Now that we’ve looked at the founding and growth of the first permanent settlement at James Fort and then Jamestown, let’s take a new look at some of the significant events in this colony’s history. First: where was Jamestown (and the second capital, Williamsburg) located?
The Virginia Company of London had planned on the settlers finding a place along the Chesapeake Bay, but that land was already taken by the Virginia Indians. Instead their sailed up the James River until they got to the outgrowth of land they named Jamestown Island. Later on, John Smith surveyed the Chesapeake Bay and other rivers.
Pocahontas
What an intriguing young woman. We’re told that she was kidnapped in April 1613 by the English, but I wonder if it wasn’t a setup? She had traveled with her father, the main Chief of the Virginia Indians, as he met with English when they first landed. I’m sure she was watching and learning.
We were told that her father was used to marriages that would unite two peoples. Since he didn’t seem to object to her kidnapping (no word about that as we worked our way through the museum), maybe he was glad it happened because he thought they would become part of his tribe?
While kidnapped for one year, it seems like she was treated so well that she learned English and converted to Christianity. What an influence these men had on her.
When John Rolfe’s wife died soon after arriving in Jamestown, he struck up a “friendship” with Pocahontas and they eventually got permission from her father and from the Governor to marry in 1614. Why did her father agree to this marriage? One thought that I read about on the internet was that he was afraid of what would happen if he said no. But maybe it was because he wanted influence over these people who had invaded his land.
Did John Rolfe have any ulterior motives for marrying her, or had he just fallen in love with her? One possibility that I read about was that he wanted to gain the help of the quiakros (priests) with his tobacco crops since they were in charge of tobacco.
When Pocahontas died in 1617, her husband returns to Virginia but her son stays in London. So who raised him? Information at the museum states that lots of people trace their lineage to the marriage between John Rolfe and Pocahontas. So who did their son, Thomas, marry? And how did their children get back to America? So many questions.
Thomas stayed in London and was raised by his uncle, Henry Rolfe, because he was too sick to return to Virginia with his father. He stayed with his uncle until he was around 21. It is assumed that Thomas returned to Virginia around 1635. He married a woman named Jane Poythress, who was the daughter of Captain Francis Poythress, a prosperous landowner in Virginia, and they had one daughter, Jane, who was born in Virginia in 1650.
Jane’s children did not return to the tribe but lived and married as English colonials, and later on as white Americans (according to what I found on the internet).
why did the settlers fall into the pit of slavery?
It seemed like faith and a walk with God was important to the first settlers who came to James Fort in 1607, so when they seemed to embrace slavery just 12 years later, I wondered what had happened. Here’s my take on it.
The goal of the settlers was to make money for the London-based Virginia Company, so the first men who came here were entrepreneurs who had a love of money and the drive to be financially successful no matter what. This drive reminded me of what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (italics mine)
These love-of-money men basically had to be forced to grow crops other than tobacco because all they wanted to do was grow tobacco and make money. Later on they had to be forced to build a town. Unmarried women had to be brought to them to marry and start families.
In 1622, Captain John Smith wrote, “Amongst the rest of the plantations all this summer little was done, but securing themselves and planting tobacco, which passes there as current silver.”
On the other hand, these men were the first to become accustomed to self-rule instead of being ruled entirely by the Virginia Company and England (even though the Virginia Company and England had the final say in the laws they passed).
Also, they were the ones who were the foundation for our founding fathers from Virginia about 150 years later: George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.
other colonies
After living with the history of Jamestown and the colony of Virginia for a couple of weeks since we visited there, I’ve started wondering why the other colonies were founded? For example, we know that the pilgrims who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, came for religious freedom, and we ended up with the first Thanksgiving celebrated with the Natives a couple of years later. What about the other colonies?
One of my grandsons, Zach, is going to start working with me to research why the other colonies were started. If we’re successful with our research, we’ll share this information with you.
