Adam Thorowgood was the seventh son of William Thorowgood and Anne Edwards of Norwich, England. He was baptized in 1581 at the parish church of St. Botolph’s in Grimston, Norfolk, England, where his father was the Vicar. He arrived in Virginia in 1621 at the age of eighteen on the Charles.
In 1624 he was living in Elizabeth City as an indentured servant. By December 1626 he had gained his freedom and purchased 150 acres of land in Elizabeth City as “Captain Adam Thorogood, Gent., of Kiquotan.” He rose in the ranks of society and in 1627 was named a commissioner of Elizabeth City’s court. That same year he returned to England where he married Sarah Offley, 18 July 1627, at St Anne’s Church, Blackfriars, London. Adam and his new wife returned to Virginia. In 1628/29, Adam Thorowgood was appointed as one of the commissioners for holding monthly courts in Elizabeth City, served as burgess for Elizabeth City in 1629 and for the Lower Part of Elizabeth City in 1630-1632, and in 1637 was a member of the Council. He was also then a member of the Lower Norfolk County Court and a vestryman for Lynnhaven Parish. In addition to his public service, Adam patented an additional 400 acres in Elizabeth City County on 21 March 1634/35. A letter dated 6 August 1634 from the Privy Council to the governor recommended Adam Thorowgood, Gent., be granted more land for special services to the colony; it was on “the Chesapeakean River to the southward of the Bay, where it may be most convenient for him.” Adam Thorowgood’s patent on 24 June 1635 for 5350 acres at Lynnhaven was in the area which became Lower Norfolk County, “due him” for the transportation of his wife Sarah and 105 persons into the colony between 1628 and 1634. Capt. Thorowgood and his family moved from the north side of Hampton Roads to Lynnhaven, where about 1634. 1635 he began construction of a brick house built on a precipice overlooking a stream. Adam’s great grandson Argall built a house on this land in 1719 that architectural historians date as the 17th oldest building in Virginia. Today Argall Thorowgood’s house, located in Virginia Beach, is a museum that pays tribute to Adam Thorowgood’s “success” in America. Adam Thorowgood is also credited with naming Norfolk, Virginia, with the name of his baptismal county in England. Adam Thorowgood made his will on February 17, 1640 and died sometime prior to April 27, 1640, when his will was recorded. He was survived by his wife Sarah; son Adam; and daughters, Ann, Sarah and Elizabeth. Adam and Sarah and some of their children were buried in the Lynnhaven Church cemetery. When the Lynnhaven River changed course, the cemetery and the remains of the church were engulfed by water. A Colonial Dames XVII marker near the church site states that the founder of Lower Norfolk County is buried under the waters off shore. First Mississippi Company Descendants of Adam Thorowgood: Pandra Kay Parker, Carl Haring, Hannah Sharp
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Twentieth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. Captain Edmund Scarburgh (Scarborough) was born in 1584 in North Walsham County, Norfolk, England. The Scarborough family originated in Yorkshire in a town named Scarborough on the North Sea dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period. Captain Scarburgh was graduated from Caius College of Cambridge University, becoming a barrister and later an army captain.
In 1621 he emigrated to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but did not bring his family to the New World until 1628. He served as the first Justice of Accomack and as a Burgess in the General Assembly in 1629, 1631, and 1632. He died in 1635. Although Edmund Scarburgh had been well educated in England and became a leader in Virginia politics, his two sons—Charles and Edmund—were perhaps even more successful and better known. Sir Charles Scarborough returned to England, where he became a mathematician and member of the Royal College of Physicians. He served as the court physician to King Charles II, the Duke of York (later King James II), King William III and Queen Mary II, and Prince George of Denmark. Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, Captain Scarburgh’s other son, was a very wealthy and powerful leader in Accomack County. He owned thousands of acres of land in Virginia and Maryland, becoming known as the largest individual landholder in the colony at one time. He was called “Conjurer Scarborough,” a name attesting to his power and unscrupulousness. The spelling of the “Scarborough” name was changed to “Scarburgh” in America. First Mississippi Company Descendant of Edmund Scarborough: Donna Davis Lane
Captain John Pinkard, Mariner and Merchant, was born about 1630 in Northamptonshire, England and was the first member of his family to come to the colonies. Northumberland County, Virginia records verify that Captain Pinkard lived in that county with his first wife and daughter Rebecca, who was born in Virginia. Proof of the father-daughter relationship between Captain John Pinkard and Rebecca, wife of Charles Sallard, is found in the Lancashire County, Virginia Court Order Book 3, 1691-1695, p. 182, where this statement appears: "Upon the petition of Charles Sallarad as marrieing Rebecca Pinckard, one of the daughters of Captain John Pinckard, (dec’d)."
The name of the first wife of Captain John Pinkard and Rebecca's mother is unknown. Other children from this marriage were named in Captain John Pinkard’s will, dated 12 Mar 1689, including three sons: John, Thomas, and James. This will also mentions, without naming them, other sons and daughters. Pinkard’s will demonstrates his fairness in the distribution of his property among his children: "They shall share and share alike." Little is known about all of John Pinkard's children, but his daughter Rebecca married Charles Sallard about 1691 before moving to Cecil County, Maryland. Their son, Simon Sallard, was born there in 1700. Rebecca apparently died shortly after his birth. Charles Sallard died in Cecil County, Maryland after 28 August 1710. Captain John Pinkard was in Northumberland when he purchased 500 acres in Wicco Parish, recorded 3 Jul 1677. In 1680, he sold that land and moved into Lancaster County. He was well respected by his neighbors as he was elected to serve as a member of the House of Burgesses from Lancaster County in 1688. Before moving to Lancaster County, John Pinkard’s first wife died; he married a second time in Northumberland County. According to Adventures of Purse and Persons Pinkard’s second wife was Sarah, the widow of Thomas Gaskins II, who died in 1675/76. Sarah died within four years of her marriage to John Pinkard. “On 21 Jan 1679/80 John Taylor, Henry Mayse, Josias Gascoyne [Gaskins] and Henry Gascoyne, in behalf of the orphans of Thomas Gascoyne [Gaskins] dec’d. in a suit against John Pinkard, who had married the widow of Thomas Gascoyne, for custody of the five children of Thomas Gascoyne, were successful and the court order the children to be delivered to them,” (Vol. II, 4th edition, p. 55). John Pinkard was a good steward of his property and assets. At his death in 1690, an extensive estate inventory included silver, silver plate, lace, furniture, and many other valuables uncommon in the colony at that time. First Mississippi Company Descendants of John Pinkard: Dr. Charles Edward Moore, Sr.; Dr. Charles Edward Moore, Jr.; Matthew Martin Moore; Charles Edward Moore, III; William Hamilton Moore; and Meredith Thompson Moore Eighteenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. Abraham Peirsey first arrived at Jamestowne aboard the Susan, the first Magazine ship sent to the Colony in 1616 from England. His wife, Elizabeth Draper and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, arrived on the Southhampton in 1624. He later returned to England on the Susan and sailed back to Jamestowne aboard the George. Peirsey was Cape Merchant of the Virginia Company and a stockholder. In late August 1619, John Rolfe reported that the privateer White Lion landed “20. and odd Negroes…which the Governor and Cape Marchant [Peirsey] bought for victuals.” He also made a trading visit to Newfoundland in 1619 on the George to exchange tobacco for fish.
In 1624 Abraham Peirsey bought Governor Sir George Yeardley’s plantation known as Flowerdew Hundred, located on the south side of the James River just upstream from James City in present day Prince George County. Peirsey renamed the plantation Peirsey’s Hundred and built a stone house with the first permanent foundation in the colony. Flowerdew Hundred was a palisaded settlement which may account for there being only six deaths there during the Indian uprising in 1622. According to the 1624/25 Muster, Peirsey was the second wealthiest man in Virginia after Yeardley. Peirsey’s Hundred included twelve dwellings, three storehouses, four tobacco houses, and housed a total of 57 people, including 29 servants and seven Negroes belonging to Peirsey as indentured servants. The other residents were six married men with their families and servants, three single men, and a minister. In 1624, Peirsey also owned Windmill Point at which included the first windmill constructed in America. Ample supplies of food were on hand in the form of cattle, hogs, corn, peas, and quantities of fish. A continued concern over defense was reflected in the cannon, armor, gunpowder, and swords listed. On 24 Oct 1623, along with John Pory, John Harvey, John Jefferson and Samuel Mathews, Abraham Peirsey was appointed to a commission to "look into the state of Virginia." He was appointed to the Council 1624 and elected as Burgess in 1625. Peirsey’s plantation went to his second wife, Frances Greville, upon his death in 1627/1628. She later married Samuel Mathews and died in 1633. At her death the property was awarded to Peirsey’s daughter Mary Peirsey Hill. One of Mary's first act upon acquiring Peirsey’s Hundred was to rename it Flowerdew Hundred. In the five years that passed after Abraham's death the estate was altered so much that Mary became destitute. Today the plantation is held by the Flowerdew Hundred Foundation and is listed on Virginia’s Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Civil War Overland Campaign Lee-Grant Trail, and the National Register of Historic Places. First Mississippi Company Descendant of Abraham Peirsey: Henry Hunter Jordan III Seventeenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. The Macon family were French Huguenots who left France and then established themselves in England for several generations. It is thought that the emigration took place soon after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 24 August 1572, and before the Edict of Nantes, which, in 1598, gave the Huguenots equal religious rights in France.
Gideon Macon was the son of William and Anne (Garland) Macon. In 1671, Gideon Macon was an attorney at law in York County. He was Secretary to Governor William Berkeley during his second administration from 1660 - 1677. He was an early Vestryman in Bruton Parish, where a brass tablet to his memory marks a pew in the church. In 1684 he was named church warden in St. Peter’s Parish and observed his church duties faithfully. He entertained the vestry at his home, and in the Vestry Book on 04 March 1702 he is referred to “as lately deceased.” Gideon Macon moved to New Kent County about 1680 and established his home on Macon’s Island. Soon after building his home, he married Martha, daughter of William Woodward, the Indian Interpreter to the Pamunkey tribe. He was given the title of Colonel as the Commander in Chief of the New Kent County Militia. He became prominent in the affairs of New Kent County and was elected to the General Assembly where he served as Burgess in 1693 and 1696 to 1703. On 10 October 1700 he wrote his will and named his wife, Martha, his Executor. Following his death, Martha married for her second husband Captain Nathaniel West. Gideon and Martha (Woodward) Macon had the following children: (1) Gideon Macon, Jr., born 20 January 1682 and probably died before his father; (2) Anne, born 15 December 1684 who married James Christian; (3) Martha, born in 1687 who married Orlando Jones; (4) Elizabeth, born in 1690; (5) William Macon, born 12 November 1693 who married Mary Hartwell; (6) John, born 17 December 1695 who married Anne Hunt; (7) A daughter born in 1698; and (8) James, born 22 October 1701 who married Elizabeth Moore. First Mississippi Company Descendant of Gideon Macon: Anita Lou Tribble Bove Sixteenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. William Kendall was born in 1659 in Northampton County, Virginia, and was the son of Colonel William Kendall and Susannah Baker. He was a member of the House of Burgesses for Northampton County in 1688 and 1692-94. William married Anne Mason, daughter of Lemuel Mason of Lower Norfolk County. William’s father-in-law, Lemuel Mason, was also a member of the House of Burgesses. Kendall made out his will 29 January 1695, and it was proved 28 July 1696. In his will he named his wife Anne; two sons, William Kendall III and John; and three daughters. His name appears on the list of participants in Bacon’s Rebellion who were pardoned by Governor Berkeley in 1676. He died young in his thirties.
William Kendall’s father, also named William Kendall, was born in England about 1625 and emigrated to Jamestown in 1650 as an indentured servant. He had also become a Virginia politician, and was serving in 1685 as Speaker of the House of Burgesses when it was prorogued by Governor Howard. He had died by the time it reconvened in 1686. First Mississippi Company Descendant of William Kendall: Donna Lane Fifteenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. Little is known about the origins of Barnaby Kearney; neither his exact birth date, birth place nor identity of his parents. Whether he was born in Virginia or immigrated is unknown; no manifest from a passenger ship to America has been found that bears his name.
Kearney lived in Nansemond County; records show he owned 460 acres there. He served as a Justice in Nansemond in 1678 and was a Major in the Nansemond County, Militia in 1680. In 1684, he was elected to serve as the Burgess from Nansemond. He was still living in the county as late as 1697, when he authorized Captain Joseph Godwin to serve as his attorney. Since he was living in Nansemond as late as 1697, he probably died there. There was a close Kearney-Godwin connection, Thomas Godwin of Nansemond County and Barnaby Kearney were friends who had much in common. On 10 Jun 1779, Kearney and Godwin attended a Quaker wedding together when Thomas Jordan and Elizabeth Burgh married because the Godwins were Quakers. Like Kearney, Colonel Thomas Godwin also served in the Virginia Militia defending Nansemond from the Indians. Like Kearney, Godwin also served in the House of Burgesses from 1664-1665 and 1676. In 1676, Godwin was elected the Speaker of the House in the Assembly that met just before Bacon’s Rebellion began. Kearney was a participant in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. Barnaby Kearney was definitely as odds with Governor William Berkeley before Bacon’s Rebellion, for Governor Berkeley sued Barnaby Kearney in 1672 for paying him with some invalid tobacco bills. When Barnaby appeared before the General Court on 21 Mar 1672, Barnaby claimed he had received the tobacco bills from Mr. James, probably Richard James I, a Jamestowne merchant. Mr. James had received the tobacco bills from John Everson. Kearney was ordered to pay William White of urban Jamestowne half of the freight charges associated with the transaction. In 1674 Kearney was summoned for jury duty and was fined 200 pounds of tobacco for not appearing. Although the name of Barnaby Kearney’s wife is unknown, he had two sons who have been proven: (1) Barnaby Kearney II, who married Elizabeth Godwin, the daughter of Thomas Godwin II, who also married Martha Bridger; and (2) Thomas Kearney, who married Sarah Alston. First Mississippi Company Descendant of Barnaby Kearney: Dr. Russell F. Kearney, Jr. Fourteenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. Robert Ellyson, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, was in St. Mary’s Hundred in Maryland from 1642-1644 and also was an absent freeman of Kent in 1642 with land likely located on Kent Island. He was a practicing physician and also the sheriff of St. Mary’s County, Maryland.
By February 1646, he was practicing law in York County, Virginia, and also resided at various times in James City and Gloucester Counties. He was elected as a burgess from James City County in 1655/56 and again in 1663. He was the sergeant-at-arms for the General Assembly and was appointed to a committee to examine the election of burgesses newly returned to the Assembly. He was also the High Sheriff of James City County and was listed among the justices of the Gloucester County Court in 1656. He was appointed in 1660 to a committee of the Council and Assembly to make plans to build a state house. He held the rank of Captain, Major, Lt. Colonel, and Colonel in the militia, though not necessarily in the correct rank sequence. In the spring of 1664, he was ordered to accompany Edmund Scarborough, the Surveyor General of Virginia, to Manakin to confer with the commissioners about the boundary dispute with Maryland. By the mid 1660’s, Ellyson owned land in James City County on Ware Creek and patented land in New Kent County on the narrows of the York River in 1657. At the same time, he patented 200 acres in James City County on the east branch of Burchen Swamp; his son later re-patented these tracts of land. The name of Robert Ellyson’s wife cannot be proved, but most printed accounts claim that she was probably Elizabeth Gerrard, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Gerrard. The Gerrard name was used for several generations of Robert Ellyson’s descendants. Elizabeth Ellyson was present as a sponsor in 1658 at the baptism of William Randolph, son of Henry Randolph, in James City. The marriage of Robert and Elizabeth Ellyson probably occurred in the mid-1650’s. Robert Ellyson had two known children: (1) Gerrard Robert Ellyson, born about 1658; and (2) Hannah Ellyson, wife of Anthony Armistead, born by or before 1660. When Gerrard Robert Ellyson recorded the patent his father had made in 1657 for 577 acres in New Kent County, he identified himself as “sonne and Heire” of Robert Ellyson. In July, 1698, Hannah Armistead deeded land that was given by her father, Robert Ellyson, to her son-in-law, John West. Gerrard Robert Ellyson, orphan of Major Ellyson, was under age in Oct 1672, when the James City County court ordered that Mr. Thomas Viccars be his guardian. Whether Hannah was older is not certain, but she had a son-in-law by 1698. Dr. Robert Ellyson continued to practice medicine his entire life and died 28 Sep 1681 in James City County, Virginia. First Mississippi Company Descendants of Dr. Robert Ellyson: Rev. Janin Ryniker Goff, Dr. Michael Lee Davis Thirteenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island. Major Joseph Crowshaw was the son Captain Raleigh Crowshaw, an Ancient Planter, a member of the London Company, an Adventurer, and a Burgess from Elizabeth City County. Raleigh arrived in Virginia in 1608 on the Second Supply to Jamestowne and settled on Middle Plantation, in the area that later became Williamsburg. Raleigh’s wife’s name is unknown; she arrived in Virginia on the Bona Nova in 1620. Raleigh was a member of the Virginia Company of London and, alongside Captain John Smith, fought the Indians led by Opechancanough.
Joseph Crowshaw, born about 1612, may have been educated in England; he became a lawyer and a justice of the court in York County; represented York as a member of the House of Burgess in 1659/60; and represented York in the Assembly in 1656, 1659, and 1660. In 1656 he was also the Sheriff in York County. Joseph was also an ardent Royalist who opposed the rule of Oliver Cromwell. As a planter, Joseph Crowshaw patented many tracts of land: 600 acres on the Charles River in York County; 1350 acres on the south side of the York River; 1000 acres at Poplar Neck plantation in present-day Williamsburg, near the land of his brother Richard Crowshaw. Joseph Crowshaw married five times and had six children by two of his wives. The name of his first wife is unknown, but they had the following children: (1) a daughter whose name is unknown but who married Robert Blackwell and had two sons named Robert and James; (2) Mary Crowshaw, who first married Henry White and then Thomas Taylor; (3) Rachel Crowshaw, who first married Ralph Graves, and then Richard Barnes; (3) Unity Crowshaw, who married Colonel John West; (4) Benjamin Crowshaw, who died young; and (5) Joseph Crowshaw, who died young. Joseph Crowshaw next married these women: (2) widow Finch; (3) Anne Hodges, widow of Augustine Hodges; (4) Margaret Tucker, widow of Daniel Tucker; (5) Mary Bromfield, widow of Thomas Bromfield, who bore Joseph a son named Joseph [II]. Joseph Crowshaw died 10 Apr 1667 in York County. He mentioned his wife Mary and infant son Joseph [II], and his two sons-in-law John West and Ralph Graves. His son named Joseph [II] by his last wife Mary died at age 15; and, according to the provisions of his will, his estate went to John West, Unity’s husband. The inventory of Joseph’s estate included pewter and silver and 1,000 bricks manufactured by his servants or transient labors. First Mississippi Company Descendants of Joseph Crowshaw: Walter Granville Jordan Twelfth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in America at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island David Crawford was born circa 1625 in Scotland, emigrating to the Virginia Colony with his father, John Crawford, around 1643. His father was later killed in Bacon's Rebellion of 1676.
Crawford received a land grant in the Parish of Martin’s Hundred, James City County, as early as 7 Aug 1667. He later settled in that part of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent, which ultimately became St. Paul’s Parish, Hanover County; here he patented land in 1672, naming his plantation Assasquin. On 23 Jan 1687, Crawford was elected to the vestry of St. Peter’s Parish, an office he held until the division of the parish in 1704, after which he served as a member of the vestry of the new St. Paul’s Parish. He served as one of the two church wardens of St. Peter’s from 1698 to 1700. During the first session of the Assembly of 1691-1692, an Act was passed creating King and Queen County from New Kent, and Burgesses from both counties were elected for the second session this this assembly. Crawford was one of the two Burgesses elected for New Kent and took his seat in the House of Burgesses on 01 Apr 1692. He was instrumental in enacting legislation requiring Clerks of County Courts to maintain offices in their respective Court Houses. An act in Henning’s Statutes-at-Large shows David Crawford deeding the Assasquin estate of four hundred acres to his grandson William Meriwether. He granted 200 acres in St. Paul’s Parish to another grandson, David Meriwether, in 1697. He amassed many acres of land and operated a large plantation that eventually became part of the site of Richmond, Virginia, in the 17th Century. The name of David Crawford’s wife is unknown; however, he married and had several children: Elizabeth who married Nicholas Meriwether, a daughter who married a Lewis, Angelina who married a McGuire, John, and Sarah. As an elderly man, he was allegedly killed by the Pamunkey Indians about 1710 in New Kent County, Virginia. Note: An excavation of the site of David Crawford's fortified home began In 2010. First Mississippi Company Descendants of David Crawford: Kenneth Holt Oilschlager |
To Our ContributorsWe welcome properly researched contributions of ancestor profiles, vignettes and comments from members that focus on their ancestors’ roles in Jamestown’s history, plus other aspects of their lives, events and experiences in the colony. PLEASE NOTE that all information must be documented and backed up by primary source documents, and not unverifiable information and family and urban legends. Submissions without this backup may be rejected. Please limit contributions and blog entries solely to the ancestors themselves, and do not include subsequent lineage information. Entries should be no more than 400 words. Archives
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