HELP FINDING THE ORIGINS OF YOUR ANCESTORS : ENGLAND
English Emigrants to South Carolina
The first emigrants to South Carolina left London on the ship “Carolina” in 1609, accompanied by two small vessels. During the voyage, two small ships were wrecked.
1670. The “Carolina” sails again. This time to Port Royal, South Carolina
It was not until March of 1670 that the good ship “Carolina” sailed into the harbor of Port Royal, South Carolina. Accompanying this vessel were two little boats carrying English settlers from the islands of Bermuda and Barbados. The expedition was under the command of Joseph West. A month later, when the colonists realized that Port Royal was too near the Spaniards in Florida, they turned the prow of the “Carolina” northward, sailed into the present harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and cast anchor in the mouth of the Ashley River.
Albemarle Point and Charles Town
April 1670. Charles Town (Charleston) was built on Albemarle Point, a bluff of the western bank. Colonel William Sayle, a former governor of Bermuda, was made governor. The first houses, surrounded by a forest of wild turkeys, partridges, and rabbits, were made from tree trunks. These were shot and eaten.
Note: Part I of the Barbadian Adventurers series describes why prominent citizens of Barbados wanted to cash in on the enormous land grant that
King Charles II of England gave to eight powerful supporters after he was restored to the throne.
Indian Tribes on the Ashley River in South Carolina
The Kiawah Indians lived near the Ashley River. They were friendly towards the white people and brought them venison or deer meat and corn. Further down the coast, the Indians were not friendly, and the settlers found the necessity to pace back and forth with their rifles while the houses were being constructed.
Governor Sayle led his people in their construction work. He made them throw up the earth as high as a man’s breast around the new town. Behind this mound, the riflemen stood ready to defend their homes. Meanwhile, some Spaniards sailed up the coast from Florida to destroy the new settlement, but when they saw the bright rifle barrels and the strong breastwork awaiting their attack, they returned to Florida. Two months after the colonists arrived, the supply of bread failed, and the Indians had no more corn. The “Carolina” proceeded to sail to Virginia to buy wheat and corn. Meanwhile, the settlers cut down the trees and cleared the ground for the planting of corn and other crops, so that by autumn they had grown enough corn for their needs in the fields and around their log huts.
When Governor Sayle died (1671) about four hundred people were living on the western bank of the Ashley River.
The English on the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina
Joseph West, an honest Englishman, succeeded Sayle as governor of the province. The settlers were still living on deer meat, fish, and oysters, and were clearing larger fields for corn. Some of the pine, oak, and ash logs were loaded on ships and sent to the island of Barbados. There they were traded for guns, hoes, axes, and cloth. More new settlers came from England to the Ashley River. Also, several Dutch farmers left New York and sailed southward to join the Carolina colonists. Some English people who resided in Barbados, also migrated. Among these was Sir John Yeamans, who brought with him from Barbados the first slaves to South Carolina who were put to work cutting cedar logs and rolling them upon the vessels that lay in the river.
The English who arrived in 1670 were: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, General Andrew Pickens, Colonel Robert Anderson, Captain Robert Maxwell, John Bowen, Major John Ford, John Hallum, William Johnson, John Lewis Gervais, Ralph Atmar, George Bampfield, Lewis Newhouse, John James Himely, Edward Trescott, James Bentham, Moses Tomlin, William Moultrie, George Ringland, Jacob Drayton, and others.
In 1696, a small group of inhabitants arrived from the Congregational Church in Dorchester in Massachusetts. These emigrants, along with their minister, the Rev. Joseph Lord, settled in a body of land near the head of Ashley River, about twenty-two miles from Charlestown.
The members left South Carolina about 1752 and removed to Midway, in Liberty County, Georgia.
Source: History of South Carolina, Heritage Series No. 3, by David Ramsay, M. D.
Collections of georgiapioneers.com
Charleston Wills, Estates, Appraisements, Inventories, Guardians, Deeds 1671-1868
Yeamans Hall Plantation on Goose Creek and Ashley River in South Caroina
Sir John Yeamans soon became rich by trading in cedar logs and wild animal skins. He built a handsome two-story wooden house with bricks imported from England on the Ashley River — situated on a 1,070-acre land grant that encompassed more than half of its perimeter on Goose Creek and Cooper River. Sir John died before the house was finished, but his wife, Lady Margaret lived there until her death.
Early Settlers to Jamestown, Virginia
The courthouse records were destroyed by fire in Jamestown, but that does not mean that all was lost. Some of the most intricately detailed accounts of the first settlers are available from the Minutes of the Virginia Council.
The Minutes of the Virginia Council 1622–1629 reveal interesting accounts of the times of the first settlers.
Trading with the Indians was a big thing. All company ships arriving in the Virginia Colony traded beads for skins. One of the first transactions listed was that beads traded for a bushel of corn. Some examples — —
Blue Beads: Capt. Croshaw gave 1,000 blue beads for a great canoe, and 20,000 blue beads for matts.
To learn more about the first settlers to Virginia, researchers should study issues of the Virginia Magazine. The Minutes of the Virginia Councils mention the details of the lives of its first settlers — census records, lawsuits, wills, guardians, and more. Also, this is where to learn more about the lives of the first settlers, and their names!
Collections of georgiapioneers.com
Books:
1, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vols 1, 15, 21, 25, 28
2. Wise, Henry A.: A Biographical Sketch
3. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 3, 4, 5
4. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 5
5. Woodleys of Isle of Wight Virginia
6. Virginia Magazine, Vols 1, 15,21, 25, 28
7. Colonial Records
8. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the
9. Colonial Gentry, Vols I & II
10. Heraldica of Virginia Gentry, Vol 5
11. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia, Vols. 1-5
12. Capitals of the Dominion of Virginia (1906)
13. Colonial Virginia, its People and Customs (1917)
14. The London Company of Virginia (settlers to Jamestown)
15. The Virginia Colony
15. The Virginia Frontier 1754–1763
16. Virginia Carolorum, the colony under the rule of Charles I and II
17. Narratives of Early Virginia 1606–1625
18. The Making of Virginia and the Middle Colonies 1578–1701
19. The Royal Government in Virginia 1624–1775
20. Legislative Journals of Colonial Virginia
21. Life in Old Virginia
22. Manors in Virginia in Colonial Times
23. Old Virginia and Her Neighbors Vols. 1 & 2
24. Sketches of Old Virginia (1897)
25. Colonial Records of Virginia (1874)
26. Colonial Virginia (1907)
27. Planters of Colonial Virginia
28. 1696 Association of Oath Rolls of British Plantations
Voyages to Virginia
The first colonists to cross the sea from England to the new Virginia Colony experienced many trials. A sea voyage in the 1600s was no piece of cake. It included mold and rats contaminating food supplies on board ships. The excavation of old Jamestown graves revealed the presence of “arsenic.” Historians seem to lack an explanation, but the answer is obvious. Arsenic was sprinkled around food barrels to kill rats. Thus, arsenic and rats were transported into the colony by barrels, clothing, and other items. Although the first colonists planted thirty or forty acres hoping for a plentiful crop before midsummer, they were forced by necessity “to live off the land.”
Sixty or eighty of the colonists were sent down the river to live on oysters and other seafood, obtainable at and near Old Point. Sturgeon was plentiful, and some of the surplus was dried, then pounded, mixed with the roe and sorrel to provide both bread and meat. Also, an edible root called tocologyt(tuckahoe, a tuberous plant growing in fresh marshes, with a root similar to that of a potato) was gathered and, in the Indian fashion, pounded into a meal from which bread was made. To conserve their scarce food supply, the colonists learned to distinguish edible roots, berries, leafy plants, and fruits, and how to prepare them. They also found the whereabouts of Indian trails, the location of their villages, and fields where they cultivated corn, beans, and apooke (tobacco). After two years in the wilderness without their diet of beef, mutton, and pork, the English suffered from the “sickness” — probably malaria and yellow fever from the West Indies and diarrhea from polluted drinking water. By May of 1610, all of their livestock had been consumed, including hogs, hens, goats, sheep, and even a horse. Finally, the sixty living survivors began to trade their weapons to the savages in exchange for food.
Meanwhile, 150 adventurers — men, women, and children who were marooned for nine months on the Bermuda Islands after the wreck of the "Sea Adventure", arrived in the vessels "Patience" and the "Deliverance" commanded by Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers. The newcomers, who had already passed through a harrowing experience, faced the pitiful existence of Jamestown. Their leaders decided to return to England. But the timely arrival of Lord De La Warr’s three ships, well furnished with all necessities, changed the outlook.
Several of the women who had sailed in the 1609 expedition reached Jamestown ahead of their shipwrecked husbands, who had accompanied the official party on the "Sea Adventure." Among these were Mrs. Joane Peirce, wife of Captain William Pierce, and their daughter, Joane, who arrived at Jamestown in 1609, on the ship "Blessing."
Source: Title: Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century by Annie Lash Jester. See this book on Gutenberg.org.
Collections of georgiapioneers.com
1. The Virginia Company of London, 1606 to 1624
2. First Settlers to Jamestown in 1607 as noted by Captain John Smith
3. 1608 Colonists
4. Immigrants sent from London to Virginia in 1618 and 1619
5. Immigrants from Newgate Prison in 1619
6. Immigrants sent from London to Virginia in 1619
7. 1620 Adventurers
8. Immigrants sent from London to Virginia in 1622
9. 1622 Colonists Slain by Indians at Jamestown
10. List of Ships Sent by the Virginia Company of London to the Colony of Virginia 1619 to 1620
11. 1623 List of Dead and Massacred at Jamestown
12. List of Ships in the Virginia Gazette 1735 to 1768
13. Early Immigrants to Virginia by Greer 1623 to 1666 (public domain)
14. 1635 ship from England to Virginia "The David"
15. 1726 to 1768 Occupations in the Colony
16. Original Persons of Quality 1600 to 1700
The Sad Story of Sir Francis Bathurst
Sir Francis Bathurst left England for the Georgia Colony on board the Prince of Wales, which arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on January 3, 1735.
During the voyage, Sir Francis complained to Capt. George Dunbar said that he had an old wound on his shin.
A letter from Sir Francis Bathurst to General Oglethorpe was dated May 30, 1735, in Savannah, Georgia.
“We arrived in the Colony January 3, 1735, and had a very pleasant passage and enjoyed a good state of health all the way. I am wonderfully delighted with the country, although I had been ill beginning by losing one of my servants who died of a dropsy in about a month after my arrival....Francis Bathurst.”
Only a month later, a letter from Walter Augustine to Mr. Westbrook in Georgia, dated Feb. 6, 1734/5, described his troubles in caring for and boarding Sir Francis. He also mentioned that Bathurst’s daughter was married to William Baker, mate and Boatswain of the Prince of Wales, and that Bathurst had charged Mr. Westbrook with his ruin, slapping him in the face. He also mentioned that one of Sir Francis’ servants had died of dropsy and that four acres of land had been cleared. One might ask why Sir Francis Bathurst, baronet and gentleman of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, England, left his prestigious home to settle in the primitive Georgia Colony. His brother was Lawrence Bathurst, who assumed the position of the Sixth Baronet of Lechlade.
The reason for his departure from his English roots was financial failure. Thus, his hopes were upon the colony providing a new start. Having lost all of his servants, he managed his own affairs, but not too well. Thomas Causton mentioned in a letter to the trustees that (Bathurst) “manages his own affairs very prudently...he has lost all of his servants but one, who is very ill, therefore I am obliged to help him in hoeing his corn....T. Causton”. Thomas was the Magistrate in Savannah and lived nearby.
A letter dated May 30, 1735, from Samuel Eveleigh to James Oglethorpe, Palace Yard, Westminster, further described Bathurst’s state of affairs.
“Yesterday morning I went up to Augustine plantation and from thence paid my respects to Sir Francis Bathurst, who lives in a small house twenty feet long and twelve feet board, divided into two parts, one is a bedroom and the other a dining room, the sides, ends and covers are clapboard, it may be in some measure water tight, but I am certain it can’t be wind tight, he seems to be tolerably well and contented, when I came there he was just going to breakfast. He invited me, and I partook of part thereof. It was a large dish of catfish and fried perch, caught the evening before by his son...and cold pork. I carried with me two bottles of punch and two bottles of red wine, and we drank the former after breakfast; the latter I left with him, and in the last glass we drank his cousin’s health, my Lord Bathurst. He has planted eight acres of corn and if the season proves good, believe he will have a good produce therefrom....Others in the Bluff give a good character of the old gentleman and tell me that his wife and son work in the fields themselves.....Samuel Eveleigh”.
The Rich Widow Scheme
But matters went afoul for the family when the wife of Sir Francis died in August of 1736. Sir Francis, desperate for money to pay his debts, heard of a rich widow in Savannah, and he rushed to court her and wed Mary Pember. After the marriage, he learned that Mrs. Pember’s debts exceeded his own, and demands were made at the Bathurst home for payment. Several months later, in August of 1736, Mary Pember Bathurst died, and Sir Francis Bathurst died in November of the same year.
The Bathurst Children
The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Baker Piercy, married a gardener in the Colony who ran away to England after being caught in a fraudulent scheme secreting Robert Bathurst’s goods. A letter from her brother, Robert Bathurst, dated March 12, 1736, was revealing.
“Dear Sister (Elizabeth Baker Piercy):
We received your letter on the 8th instant wherein you acquaint us of melancholy account of your husband’s death, for which we are all heartily sorry, but we received a letter about a month before by which we heard of it from Mr. Edward Bathurst and he writes us word that cousin Robert Bathurst has returned him no money, but if he does, my father will be no way remindful of you, but if you can go to the Honorable Trustees, they will send you over here and then my father will take care to do for you what lies in his power. Mr. Percy and his wife live very well, which is all at present, but my father and mother’s blessings and Patty's and my love. From your loving brother, Robert Bathurst.”
II. Mary Bathurst drowned on her father’s plantation in 1739.
III. Martha Bathurst married William Baker on February 1, 1735, and resided with him in Liberty County, Georgia.
III. Robert Bathurst, the only son, ran away to Charles Town, South Carolina, to avoid paying his father’s debts to the Trustees, where he was killed by negroes on Sept. 9, 1739.
Source: Colonial Records of Georgia; Colonial Georgians by Jeannette Holland Austin (available online to members of https://georgiapioneers.com)
See Georgia Colonial Records.