The first group of 150 adventurers came to Cape Henry of Chesapeake Bay on May 6, 1607 aboard three ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. They were sent here by the Virginia Company established in England as a stock company to look for treasures in the new world and spread the word of Christianity. They picked a site up river but in a swampy region with poor fresh water supply. The whole settlement would have been abandoned had not supplies and new settlers arrived in 1610. By this time about 2/3 had died of malnutrition, Malaria, pneumonia and dysentery and the remainder were only held together by the leadership of Capt. John Smith. 1609-1610 is known as "The Starving Time."

One of the first industries developed here was glassblowing due to the abundance of firewood and silica. Iron smelting was also attempted along with wine and beer making. By 1612 a new type of sweeter tobacco was introduced as a cash crop. The sustaining crops included corn and hogs although the settlers also tried growing silk, grapes.  During this first period, the colonists were treated unevenly in their tenure for expenses.  When the colonists had their passage paid by the "Virginia Company" they had to work for the company for eleven months of the year, the twelfth month they could work for themselves.  This type of servitude fell out of favor when compared with the hundreds of immigrants to Bermuda who paid annually two and a half barrels of corn and not required to do public service.  Under the rule of Thomas Yeardley tobacco profits took precedence over safety to colony.  Tobacco was grown in any small plot of land including down the center street of Jamestown.  In 1619 Captain Samuel Argall became the deputy -governor of Virginia.  His governance was sever, despotic and while exercising power mostly for personal gain.  April 18th Sir George Yeardley brought the removal of Argall and granted the colonists all the rights and privileges of freemen as well as substituting English statute law instead the previous military code. After this change there was no shortage of food and the Indians now became the purchasers of corn.   [Authur & Carpenter 121-123]

By 1619 there were about six hundred to a thousand people living in the Virginia colony. In this year began the first importation of "young handsome and honestly educated maids" for potential marriages.   Under the governance of Sir Edwin Sandys of only one year, the London Company "provided passage for twelve hundred and sixty-one immigrants, among whom were ninety young and incorrupt women." The success of this first contingent of women helped to make way for the second group of sixty more in 1621. [Authur & Carpenter 127]

In John Burke's History of Virginia, Vol. No. 1 appendix, is the name of Lawrence Camp who while in England in 1620 was a large subscriber to the fund for colonizing Virginia. Lawrence was called a "Member of the Great Charter of the Virginia Company" when it was granted by King James I on May 23, 1609. He was a member of the Company of Honorable Drapers and Weavers. He had owned seven shares of stock in the Company which he was allowed to draw 700 acres of land in Gloucester County, Virginia. This land fell to his brother Thomas Camp upon his death. This Thomas may have had a son, Thomas Camp, who is one of the early known settlers.

The original settlement of Jamestown continued prosper with difficulty for a few years. A brick church was constructed here in 1639 with a tower added in 1647. Although very restored from ruins, it is today "one of the oldest English-built edifices standing in the United States." Jamestown was burned to the ground in Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 and burned down again in 1698. Most of the population moved inland by 1699 making Williamsburg the new governmental and cultural center of Virginia.

sources:

Authur, T. S. and Carpenter, W. H. The History of Virginia from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Lippincott, Grambo & Co., Philadelphia, 1853
The Asso. for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 204 West Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23220-5012
World Book Encyclopedia, NY
Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia, National Park Service, U. S. Dept. of the Interior.

All information and photos included within these pages was developed by the help of hundreds of researchers. The information here is for the express purpose of personal genealogical research and is freely offered as long as this site is listed as a source. It may not be included or used for any commercial purpose or included in any commercial site without the express permission of Elroy Christenson. Copyright Elroy Christenson 1998-2010.