Ancient planter
Encyclopedia
"Ancient planter" was a term applied to colonists who migrated to the Colony of Virginia "before the coming away of Sir Thomas Dale" (1616) and who remained in the colony for at least three years. Under the terms of the "Instructions to Governor Yeardley" (issued by the London Company
in 1618), these colonists received the first land grants in Virginia.
These land grants constituted a dividend paid out by the Virginia Company of London, which was constituted as a joint stock company
. Under the terms of the Second Charter, issued in 1609, the Company offered shares for twelve pounds ten shillings per share, to be invested and reinvested for seven years. Those who ventured to Virginia in person, investing their time and risking their lives, would each be counted as holding one share.
In 1616, at the end of the administration of Sir Thomas Dale, the first dividend became due and payable to all who had invested, whether by the purchase of shares or by "personal adventure". However, since the colony had not prospered, there was no money to divide. Instead, the Company offered grants of land. Colonists who had paid their own passage to Virginia received a "first dividend" of 100 acre (0.404686 km²), free of quit-rent
, for their "personal adventure", and an additional hundred acres for each share they owned in the London Company:
Those who had been brought at the Company's expense also received 100 acres for their "personal adventure", but in their case the land was subject to an annual rent of one shilling per 50 acres:
Colonists who arrived after the departure of Sir Thomas Dale were entitled to a lesser grant of 50 acres. The London Company reasoned that "... by the singular Industry and virtue of the said Sir Thomas Dale the former Difficulties and Dangers were in greatest part overcome to the great ease and security of such as have been since that time transported thither",. In other words, those who had come earlier received twice as much land, supposedly in recognition of the greater risks and hardships they had endured. Of course, reducing the size of the grant to 50 acres also saved the hard-pressed Company a great deal of money, and the later colonists can scarcely be said to have experienced the "great ease and security" mentioned by the Company; the death rate continued extremely high.
The phrase "Ancient Planter" was not an honorific
; it was simply a descriptive term, as used in the "Instructions", for a planter of long standing.
According to a letter from John Rolfe
dated January 1619/20 "All the Ancient Planters being sett free have chosen places for their dividends according to the Comyssion. Which giveth all greate content, for now knowing their owne landes, they strive and are prepared to build houses & to clear their groundes ready to plant, which giveth great encouragement and the greatest hope to make the Colony florrish that ever yet happened to them."
The database of Colonial Land Office Patents at the Library of Virginia
is the principal source of information as to the identities of those who received grants as Ancient Planters. Though the record does not begin until 1623, when administration of the colony was taken over by the Crown, many of the subsequent patents identify "ancient planters", or provide information which shows that a tract of land must have been originally granted under the terms applying to Ancient Planters.
Additional information comes from the 1624/5 Muster, a census ordered as part of the handover of the colony from the Virginia Company to the Crown. For some of the colonists, the census includes information on the year and ship of arrival. Unfortunately, in many cases this valuable information is missing.
Also as part of the transition to Crown Colony status, a list of grants was compiled in 1625 and sent back to London. This list does not identify the Ancient Planters as such, but in some cases knowledge of the grant combined with information from other sources (e.g., knowledge of the date of arrival) is enough to show that the planter in question must have received the grant as an Ancient Planter.
The list of names below is based on information displayed on the website of the Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters, a lineage society.
London Company
The London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...
in 1618), these colonists received the first land grants in Virginia.
These land grants constituted a dividend paid out by the Virginia Company of London, which was constituted as a joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
. Under the terms of the Second Charter, issued in 1609, the Company offered shares for twelve pounds ten shillings per share, to be invested and reinvested for seven years. Those who ventured to Virginia in person, investing their time and risking their lives, would each be counted as holding one share.
In 1616, at the end of the administration of Sir Thomas Dale, the first dividend became due and payable to all who had invested, whether by the purchase of shares or by "personal adventure". However, since the colony had not prospered, there was no money to divide. Instead, the Company offered grants of land. Colonists who had paid their own passage to Virginia received a "first dividend" of 100 acre (0.404686 km²), free of quit-rent
Quit-rent
Quit rent , Quit-rent, or quitrent, in practically all cases, is now effectively but not formally a tax or land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns....
, for their "personal adventure", and an additional hundred acres for each share they owned in the London Company:
Those who had been brought at the Company's expense also received 100 acres for their "personal adventure", but in their case the land was subject to an annual rent of one shilling per 50 acres:
Colonists who arrived after the departure of Sir Thomas Dale were entitled to a lesser grant of 50 acres. The London Company reasoned that "... by the singular Industry and virtue of the said Sir Thomas Dale the former Difficulties and Dangers were in greatest part overcome to the great ease and security of such as have been since that time transported thither",. In other words, those who had come earlier received twice as much land, supposedly in recognition of the greater risks and hardships they had endured. Of course, reducing the size of the grant to 50 acres also saved the hard-pressed Company a great deal of money, and the later colonists can scarcely be said to have experienced the "great ease and security" mentioned by the Company; the death rate continued extremely high.
The phrase "Ancient Planter" was not an honorific
Honorific
An honorific is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title...
; it was simply a descriptive term, as used in the "Instructions", for a planter of long standing.
According to a letter from John Rolfe
John Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
dated January 1619/20 "All the Ancient Planters being sett free have chosen places for their dividends according to the Comyssion. Which giveth all greate content, for now knowing their owne landes, they strive and are prepared to build houses & to clear their groundes ready to plant, which giveth great encouragement and the greatest hope to make the Colony florrish that ever yet happened to them."
List of ancient planters?
Because the surviving historical records are incomplete, and sometimes demonstrably inaccurate, it is not possible to compile a definitive list of Ancient Planters.The database of Colonial Land Office Patents at the Library of Virginia
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...
is the principal source of information as to the identities of those who received grants as Ancient Planters. Though the record does not begin until 1623, when administration of the colony was taken over by the Crown, many of the subsequent patents identify "ancient planters", or provide information which shows that a tract of land must have been originally granted under the terms applying to Ancient Planters.
Additional information comes from the 1624/5 Muster, a census ordered as part of the handover of the colony from the Virginia Company to the Crown. For some of the colonists, the census includes information on the year and ship of arrival. Unfortunately, in many cases this valuable information is missing.
Also as part of the transition to Crown Colony status, a list of grants was compiled in 1625 and sent back to London. This list does not identify the Ancient Planters as such, but in some cases knowledge of the grant combined with information from other sources (e.g., knowledge of the date of arrival) is enough to show that the planter in question must have received the grant as an Ancient Planter.
The list of names below is based on information displayed on the website of the Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters, a lineage society.
- Giles Allington
- William Andrews
- William Askew
- Henry Bagwell
- Thomas Bagwell
- William Baker
- John Barnum
- William Bayley
- Thomas Baywell
- Mary Beheathland
- Robert Beheathland
- Theophilus Beriston
- Richard Biggs
- Richard Birchett
- John Blore (Blower)
- Reynold Booth
- Mary Bouldin(g)
- Thomas Bouldinge
- William Bouldin
- Richard Boulton
- John Boxe
- Cheney Boyse
- Richard Brewster
- John Brewer
- Rev. Richard Buck
- William Burditt
- John Burrows
- William CappsWilliam CappsWilliam Capps was born in Norfolk County, England in or around 1575. William married Catherine Jernagin in Norwich, Norfolk County, England, 11-Dec-1596, at...
- Thomas Carter
- Nathaniel Cawsey
- Thomasine Cawsey
- Isack Chaplaine
- Frances Chapman
- William Claiborne
- John Chandler
- Edward Clarke
- Pettiplace Clause
- Ann Clay(e)
- John Clay(e)
- Joseph Cobb
- Francis Cole
- Susan Collins
- Henry Coltman
- William Coxe
- Captain Raleigh Croshaw
- Capt. James Davis
- Rachel Davis
- Henry Dawkes
- Adam Dixon
- John Dods
- John Downeman
- Thomas DowseThomas DowseThomas Dowse, also known as Thomas Dawse and Thomas Dawles was an English-American immigrant who represented City of Henricus in the first meeting of the House of Burgesses on July 30, 1619 at Jamestown, Virginia.Dowse was born in England, but migrated to the American colonies, becoming one of the...
- Elizabeth Dunthorne
- Clement Evand
- Margery Fairfax
- William Fairefax
- Thomas Farmer
- Cicely Jordan FarrarCicely Jordan FarrarCicely Jordan FarrarCicely Jordan Ferrar was an early settler and Ancient Planter of colonial Jamestown. She came to the colony as a child, in 1611. Nothing is known of her origins, or who she traveled with. She married three times, and died sometime after 1631.-First Marriage:Cicely Jordan...
- Robert Fisher
- Mary Beheathland Flinton
- Joanne Flinton
- John Flood
- William Gany
- Thomas Garnett
- Sir Thomas GatesThomas Gates (governor)Sir Thomas Gates , followed George Percy as governor of Jamestown, the English colony of Virginia . Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time...
- Thomas Godby
- Thomas Graves
- Thomas Gray
- Robert Greenleaf
- Susan Greenleaf
- Edward Grendon
- John Gundry
- Mary Gundry
- Edward Gurgany
- Adria Harris
- Thomas Harris
- John Hatton
- Walter Heyley
- Nicholas Hodgskines
- Bartholomew Hospkins
- Oliver Jenkines
- John Johnson
- Elizabeth Joones
- Samuel JordanSamuel JordanSamuel Jordan was an early settler and Ancient Planter of colonial Jamestown, and one of the first colonial legislatorsJordan traveled to Virginia in 1610, according to his 1620 patent:...
- William Julian
- Martha Key(Keie)
- Thomas Key(Keie)
- Richard Kingsmill
- Thomas Lane
- William Lansden
- Anne Burras LaydonAnne BurrasAnne Burras was an early English immigrant to Virginia and an Ancient Planter. She was the first English woman to marry in the New World, and her daughter Virginia was the first child of English colonists to be born in the Jamestown colony....
- John Laydon
- John Lightfoote
- Albino Lupo
- Elizabeth Lupo
- Francis Mason
- Cornelius Maye
- William Morgan
- Susan Old
- Isabella Pace
- Richard PaceRichard Pace (Jamestown)Richard Pace was an early settler and Ancient Planter of Colonial Jamestown, Virginia. According to a 1622 account published by the London Company, Richard Pace played a key role in warning the Jamestown colony of an impending Powahatan raid on the colony....
- William Parker
- Robert Partin
- Francis Paul
- William Perry
- William Pierce
- Abraham Piersey
- John Poole
- Robert Poole, Sr.
- Robert Poole, Jr.
- John Powell
- William PowellWilliam Powell (Virginia colonist)William Powell , was an early Virginia colonist, landowner, militia officer and member of the first Virginia House of Burgesses in 1619...
- John Price
- Miles Prickett
- John Proctor
- John RolfeJohn RolfeJohn Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
- Christopher Safford
- Robert Salford
- Joane Salford
- Thomas Savage
- Samuel Sharpe
- William Sharpe
- John Sleight
- John Smith
- William Sparkes
- William Spencer
- Thomas Spilman
- Thomas Stepney
- Thomas Sully
- Robert Sweet
- John Taylor
- Richard Taylor
- Thomas Thornbury
- Henry Tucker
- William Tucker
- Henry Turner
- Thomas Turner
- John Ward
- Edward Waters
- William Waters
- Ameyle Wayne(Waine)
- Francis WestFrancis WestFrancis West was a Deputy Governor of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia.West was the second son of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr of Wherwell Abbey in Hampshire and his wife, Anne Knollys....
- Temperance Flowerdew Yardley WestTemperance FlowerdewTemperance Flowerdew was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and a key member of the Flowerdew family, significant participants in the history of Jamestown...
- Henry Williams
- Thomas Willoughby
- John Woodliffe
- Robert Wright
- Sir George YeardleyGeorge YeardleySir George Yeardley was a plantation owner and three time colonial Governor of the British Colony of Virginia. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for 10 months in 1609-10, he is best remembered...
- Richard Yonge