Voices from the Past: Sailing on the Annie C

Written by Joe Valentine

What was it like to sail on a Chesapeake Bay log canoe 100 years ago?

Fortunately we can answer that question, thanks to Dr. Harry Holcomb who had a fascination for maritime history. Harry got involved with Frank Young who had purchased the log canoe Annie C. The Annie C had been built in Sanford, Virginia in 1904 by Horace Bundick, who worked as a waterman and a carpenter. Growing up in Sanford, Frank had known about the Annie C since his childhood. He loved her lines.  When he found her abandoned in 1989, Frank bought her for $300. Harry found out about her shortly thereafter, and joined Frank in her restoration. In addition to restoring her, Harry started tracking down people who had sailed on her and recorded interviews with them. Thanks to Harry’s recordings of her history, we can get a feeling of what it was like to sail on the Annie C.

The Annie C is an exceptionally large log canoe. She is built of five logs and is 9 ½ feet wide and 45 feet long form stem to stern, not including the rudder or the bow sprit. Her mast was about 47 feet tall and she carried a mainsail and a jib.

One of the interviews was with Mr. Donald Corbin, the son of the first owner of the Annie C. The vessel was named for Donald Corbin’s grandmother, Annie Hall Corbin. According to Mr. Corbin:

"Annie C made a trip to Baltimore and was to return home to Sanford. There was a steamer in 

Steamer: Three Rivers

Baltimore at the same time called the Three Rivers. My Uncle, Spencer D. Hall was her Captain. A bad storm came up. The storm was so bad that my Uncle, Captain Hall, told my father to leave the boat there and to take the steamer home to Crisfield. My father would not go on the steamer and after the steamer left, he sailed Annie C out of Baltimore in this storm and straight home to the Hummocks. He beat his brother [Brother in law, Captain of the steamer Three Rivers] home from Baltimore. When he got in there was not a sail left on her."

Louise Temple with the Annie C above and behind the stern.

While we do not have a picture of the Annie C under sail, we do have a picture of his sister ship, the Louise Temple, also built by Horace Bundick. The picture to the left is actually of the Louise Temple, but it is believed that the boat above and behind her stern is the Annie C.

The larger canoes, like the Annie C, were used to travel across the bay and collect oysters  around the James and Potomac Rivers. One of the people Dr. Holcomb interviewed was Captain Clifton Stant, the son of Harrison Stant who owned the Annie C with Al Hall in the early 1900’s. At the time, Captain Stant worked as the “culler” for his father.  The crew would travel across the bay in the winter and sleep in the small forward cabin. Captain Clifton Stant tells us what it was like to live aboard, especially in the winter when they would go across the bay for oysters: 

"It was all in one little cabin, we pretty near slept, ate, and everything all in the same spot, it was just tight, you can't imagine how tight it was in that little cabin for four people. On each side they had a little seat maybe about eight inches up off the floor. That is where you pulled your beds out.  You could push them up under the bow and pull them out at night. Sometimes we would sleep forward of the mast, two could sleep up there, tight sleeping. They had a little four burner cook stove, the top of it wasn't more that eighteen inches square. It burned wood and we had to cut pieces about six inches long to fit. You would be surprised what it would do to keep us warm. Of course we would keep putting a little piece of wood in her all night long during cold weather and kept the fire going all night into her."

Captain Clifton Stant of Hallwood sailed aboard the Annie C around 1912 and further describes the Annie C and the Louise Temple:

"The Annie C. and the Louise Temple were built for speed and looks. They were built in a little different shape than the rest of the log canoes. She was almost as sharp on the stern as she was on the bow. Annie C had a couple of pieces of pig iron back in her stern for ballast to keep her bow up a little bit. She could fly if you had the right wind. If you had a good breeze with about one third sail onto her that thing would fly,  she'd go right over until she'd pretty near take water into her. She was a pretty sight when she would come up with water on her wash boards. The Annie C and the Louise Temple used to race under sail. The Annie C was a little faster than the Louise Temple. The Annie C was the same style [as the Louise Temple] but just a little bigger."

Captain Clifton Stant also talked about crossing the Chesapeake Bay in a Northeaster: 

"In 1912 we went to the James River oystering and we had about two hundred and fifty bushels of oysters in her to bring home, to plant; it was in the fall of the year. We got practically all the way back across the Bay coming into Tangier to what we call Tangier Cod Lighthouse when we struck a heavy Northeast storm, I mean it was a storm! I thought it was fun at the time, I was in the cabin with my feet propped up on a little stove we had to keep it from turning over. My father and little Al Hall owned her together. Mr. Hall was at the tiller and my father held a piece of canvas over the two cylinder Bridgeport engine keeping her dry. They had the sail reefed down just as low as she would go, just a little piece to steady her a bit and my uncle, Neil Stant, was bailing water just as hard as he could bail to keep her afloat. They knew that we were on our way home from the James River and I guess practically half of Sanford was down to Messongo Creek waiting to see if we made it, they thought we were lost. They were waiting there when we come in safe."

The engine Captain Stant referred to was a two cylinder, 16 horsepower, Bridgeport make or break engine that was installed around 1910. There was ambivalence about the introduction of the gasoline engine into the log canoe. The old timers preferred to use sail while the younger generation of watermen were enamored with the new engines. Harry interviewed  Leslie Drummond, who worked with his father and grandfather on the log canoe Madcap. His comments quoted here illustrate the tension over the use of engines: 

"She (the Madcap) had a Mianus seven horse power motor. I wanted a larger motor and bought a Buick forty five horse power motor. I put the new motor in her and my Grandfather said 'You have something in her now I don't know anything about.' I said, 'You steer and I'll run the motor.' He said, 'you bought the thing now you pay for it.' So I had to work for the rest of the year to pay for the motor."

The log canoes with their fine tapered ends were not well suited for the use of power. Under power they would tend to "squat" in the stern. Leslie Drummond describes Madcap under way with his Buick forty five horse power motor: 

"I opened her up. The stern was clean down, the rudder right under the water - she was a trottin."  

Annie C in 1978.

The Annie C evolved over time from only sail to power. Ultimately she had similar engines installed around the same time as the Madcap. When the larger engines were installed, the centerboard and bowsprit were removed and eventually “squat boards” or planning boards were installed on the stern to keep the stern from squatting down when under power.

The pictured to the right is the Annie C at the end of her working live in 1978. If you look closely at the stern, you can see the remnants of the squat boards.

The Annie C worked on the water from 1904 till 1978 when she was beached in Saxis by Delany Linton who had hopes of restoring her. Unfortunately he had cancer and was unable to fulfill his dream. Thanks to Frank Young and Dr. Harry Holcomb, the Annie C was saved and resides today at Ker Place in Onancock. She has been restored to her original design as a pure sailing vessel. 

The Annie C today at Ker Place

Sources: Interview tapes and transcripts made by Dr. Harry Holcomb.

British Invade Chesconessex!

By Terry Malarkey, from London, England and Chesconessex Creek.

Location of Chesconessex
Creek on Google Maps.

When Judy (also a Londoner) and I came to United States in the early 70's, Judy got a job running the Murrysville Community Library in western Pennsylvania. One day some schoolkids came into the library and said they had a project to research and report on the war between Britain and United States in 1812. Judy, a history specialist, said “What war?” And after doing some research with the kids she found that there had indeed been a war between our two countries in 1812. She came home and told me, and I too was surprised.

So imagine the irony of reading an article by Kirk Mariner in the Eastern Shore News, and discovering that the British had invaded Chesconessex Creek, where we now live, in 1814 and that June 25 was the 200th anniversary of that invasion. So with some help from Kirk Mariner, Miles Barnes, and the Web, I tried to put together a little story of what happened.

To set the scene:

• 200 years ago, in 1814, the War of 1812 was in its 3rd year.
• Napoleon was on sabbatical (it turned out!) and exiled to an island off of the coast of Italy called Elba.
• The land we now live on on the Eastern Shore was still owned by the Wise family (until after the Civil War).
• British attentions now turned to the Western Hemisphere. A distraction was needed to deflect the USA in its invasion of British North America (Canada).
• 500+ British troops, fresh from the wars of Europe, were encamped on Tangier Island (which you can see from our house) in newly-constructed Fort Albion, surrounded by redoubts, breastworks and armed with cannon. Often, powerful Royal Navy warships were anchored close by.
• Also present were the British Corps of Colonial Marines, comprised of escaped slaves from Virginia and Maryland, now in red Royal Marines uniform and with $20 bounty each in their pockets. In despatches they were described as “marked by great spirit and vivacity and perfect obedience”.
• There were various skirmishes, probes by both sides and some personal animosity between rival personalities, Captain Scott of the British army and Captain Joynes of the American militia.
• The American militia had barracks and artillery on Chesconessex Creek, and were commanded by Captain Joynes.
• At dawn on June 25, 1814 the British were running out of food. (Fresh Pride had closed!) With the food shortage and the rivalry in mind, the British admiral approved a raid by 500 Royal and Colonial Marines in barges. They were guided by the Colonial Marines who, being escaped slaves, knew the land intimately.
• The British invaders seized food, cannon, and burned down the barracks. No casualties were reported.
• Captain Joynes and his militia fled, leaving behind his sword, feathered hat, and uniform. These items were then given to a Colonial Marine sergeant (a former slave) as a prize and to humiliate Joynes.

Coda:

• Fort Albion on Tangier was used as a base to blockade the Chesapeake & attack Washington D.C. (where several public buildings, including the Presidential Mansion, were burned down), and Baltimore (giving rise to the National Anthem).
• Fort Albion was manned by the British until the end of the war by the Treaty of Ghent, in February 1815. It has now been lost to erosion.
• The escaped slaves & their families went as free citizens to Trinidad, Bermuda, Canada, & etc.

Sources:

The Internal Enemy by Alan Taylor
Pungoteague to Petersburg, Vol 1 Eastern Shore Militiamen by Alton Brooks Parker Barnes & Lee Howard
Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Jan. 1, 1808 to Dec. 31, 1835 by H. W. Flournoy, VA State Library
'Niles" weekly register, Robt E. Spencer

Secrets of the Beverly Plantation Arch Revealed

Written by Dr. Arthur Fournier

Figure 1. Beverly near Pocomoke, MD.  Photo located in
National Register of Historic Places Program.

The Beverly plantation on the Pocomoke River was initiated by Littleton Dennis circa 1760 and completed by his widow, Susanna Upshur Dennis around 1770. (1) Framing the stairs leading to the rear entry is a unique wrought iron arch adorned with curious symbols. The description of the arch in the 2012 Garden Tour brochure gives vague reference that the arch may have been forged by Haitian craftsmen. This piqued my interest as I have worked as a medical volunteer in Haiti for 20 years and in the process, become quite familiar with Haitian history, art and culture.

While the identity of the sculptor cannot be identified with certainty as being Haitian, careful study of the arch reveals that the artist that designed and forged it had a thorough knowledge of and reverence for ancient West African cosmology. This cosmology was preserved in Haitian culture through the centuries and is still present to this day in Haiti as part of the world

Figure 2.   Veve of Legba

view and value system known as Vodou. Court records and a family history indicate that the Dennis family conducted considerable commercial intercourse with the West Indies. (2) They may therefore have brought back slaves from the West Indies as skilled artisans to contribute to the construction of the plantation who were well-versed in the mysteries of Vodou. Vodou is a form of African spiritualism that survived among slaves in France's colony, St. Dominique, by syncretecly adopting a veneer of Catholicism. Catholic saints such as the Virgin Mary also represented African Saints – in the case of the Virgin, Erzilie, the goddess of love and family. (3, Figure 4)) The term Vodou is most likely derived as the Kreyol pronunciation of the French "vieux dieux" or old gods. Each of these old or African gods is represented by an abstract symbol called in Kreyol "veve". (See Figure 2, Wikipedia examples of veve) It is these veve that adorn the arch and also continue in Haitian Vodou art to this day (See Figure 1 & 3).

Figure 3. Examples of veve in the Beverly Arch.  Photo
located in National Register of Historic Places Program.

For example, the heart with a cross above it is a symbol of Erzilie-the heart for love and the cross for suffering. The serpentine curves represents Damballah, the snake god, the same symbolism embodied in the caduceus, our symbol for medicine. Large crosses stand for Legba, the guardian of the crossroads which represent the intersection of past and future, life and death. Even the arch itself is a symbol, depicting both a rainbow and the Milky Way. In Vodou cosmology, creation began with the mating of the feminine rainbow with the masculine snake god (the metaphors to human anatomy should require no elaboration).(4) The stars in the Milky Way represent the souls of departed ancestors.

Figure 4.   Cover of Dr. Arthur
Fournier's book.

How did this African cosmology survive in Haiti and not among the enslaved in what is now the United States? Well, it did, to a certain extent, among the French settlements in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. It may also have persisted amongst the slaves of the Beverly plantation, as Maryland was the only Catholic colony among the original 13. As Alex Haley described so poignantly in "Roots", however, most African-Americans in what is now the United States were deprived of their cultural identity through progressive generations of enslavement. In Haiti, however the slaves successfully revolted against their French masters beginning in 1793. By 1804 Napoleon abandoned his attempt to reconquer Haiti, selling Louisiana to the United States to finance that misadventure. In the decades that followed, the United States and European powers isolated and ostracized Haiti, fearing the Haitians would export their revolution. This explains why Vodou exists in such a pure form in Haiti to this day. Which brings us back to the construction of the Beverly plantation and its arch – it had to be done before the Haitian revolution!



Sources: 
1. Beverly, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form 
2. The Dennises of Beverly and Their Kin (private printing, 1992)
3. Vodou Saints: Lessons on Life, Death and Ressurection From Haiti, Arthur M. Fournier,M.D.
4. The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis

Celebrating 400 years since the first English settlement on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Excerpts summarizing The Company’s Garden: Dale’s Gift

"The first settlement on Virginia’s Eastern Shore was started by Sir Thomas Dale in 1614. Shortly after he became governor under the Virginia Company, Dale “bought from the Indians the southern part of the Eastern Shore peninsula…on a body of water given the name Plantation Creek."

“At first there were only seventeen men there…whose labor was to make salt and catch fish in the spring and fall.” The new settlement “shortly developed a plantation or garden…’private gardens’ for each man and …’common gardens’ for hemp, flax, and other seeds."

"Governor Dale developed a portion of land solely for the profit of the Virginia Company, a “Plantation”or “Garden”. He proceeded “with great zeal to the good of the Company (to) sett up the Common Garden to yield them a standing revenue…”

For several years Dale’s Gift seemed to be an epitome of a typical plantation.

Due to mismanagement by Captain Argall , a subsequent governor, by “…Easter 1619 there was not left to the Company, the Garden, or any tenant, servant, rent, tribute corn, cow, or saltwork – only six goats…”.

“One thing only remained to the settlement, and that was the term commonly used by the planters in referring to it, namely: ‘the Plantation’.”

Something of importance, at that time, of the settlement on the Eastern Shore, both in securing for those inhabitants a regular and sufficient supply of fish and salt and in securing for the Company an annual revenue, may be gathered from peer tributes to Sir Thomas Dale’s ability in managing the affairs of the Colony, and also from the fact that the name given to the new settlement was Dale’s Gift, a name indicative of its value to colonists and company.

Source: 

The Company's Garden: Dale's Gift, by Susie M. Ames, Phd., published for the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society

Onancock and the Oyster Wars

Written by Joe Valentine

Onancock seems like a peaceful little town, so who would think that an Onancock resident would declare war on Marylanders and sink their boat? Well it happened in 1889 and it didn't even make the front page of the local paper, it was a page two article! Check out the forerunner of the Eastern Shore News, the Peninsula Enterprise issue from November 30, 1889 … http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94060041/1889-11-30/ed-1/seq-2/ . The Peninsula Enterprise reports that on November 27, 1889, Onancock resident Charles R. Lewis hired Capt. William S. Russell to operate his tug boat, the Ida Augusta, and sink any boat that should poach oysters on his grounds off Hog Island in the mouth of the Potomac.

To provide a little background, in the 1850’s, Chesapeake oysters were being shipped to New England where the local watermen had depleted the New England oyster beds by using very efficient dredges. New Englanders soon started sending their boats down to the Chesapeake to harvest more oysters. Competition for the oysters started to become very stiff. Maryland and Virginia started to put constraints on the harvests. In 1868, Maryland founded the Maryland Oyster Navy to enforce their laws and keep outsiders from harvesting Maryland oysters. Virginia was lax in enforcing their laws. After the Civil War, the oyster business became big business. Virginia made its own attempts to fight illegal oystering. In the 1870s, Virginia imposed license fees, seasonal limits, and other measures to prevent over harvesting and preserve the oyster population. The demand for oysters continued to grow, and by the 1880s, the Chesapeake Bay supplied almost half of the world's supply of oysters. Meanwhile, violence broke out between oyster tongers and more efficient oyster dredgers. Finally in 1879, Virginia banned oyster dredging.

The abundance of oysters started to diminish, and in 1899, Virginia allowed watermen to lease private grounds with hopes that they would reseed them with oysters. This caused a lot of controversy as some of the grounds were jointly claimed by Maryland and Virginia. Charles R. Lewis, an oyster dealer from Onancock, had leased just such grounds located off Hog Island near the mouth of the Potomac.

When the governor of Maryland proclaimed that the area around Hog Island to be the common property of both Maryland and Virginia, the Smith Island watermen began to move in around Hog Island. Charles Lewis was determined to protect his leased oyster grounds from the raiders from Smith Island. He hired Captain William Russell, a deputy of the Virginia Oyster Militia, and gave him command of his steam powered tug, Ida Augusta. He told Captain Russell, “If them damned Smith Islanders try to loot my oyster beds, then sink their vessels.”

On November 27, 1889, Captain Russell steamed out of Onancock bound for Hog Island. When he got

Saxis Oystermen circa 1930's from the ESVHS's
Roberston Collection.

there he spied a Smith Island oyster boat, the Lawson, dredging over Mr. Lewis’s grounds. He proceeded to follow Mr. Lewis’s orders and took aim at the Lawson. One of the cullers on the Lawson looked up to see the tug and hollered “By Jesus, she’s fixing to ram us!” The tug hit the Lawson with a glancing blow when Captain Evans of the Lawson yelled “What in the hell are you doing?”

Captain Russell brought the tug around for a second run at the Lawson, this time crashing through the hull. When the Lawson began to sink, the well armed crew on the tug “invited” the Smith Islanders to come aboard.

The tug made its way back to Onancock with the angry crew of the Lawson. Charles Lewis met Captain Russell and the Smith Islanders at the dock in Onancock. He declared that no governor of Maryland could issue a proclamation by which he would be robbed. The Smith Islanders departed the next day stating that they would return to Hog Island, but would be well armed and would shoot anyone trying to take their boat. Later that month, Captain Russell attempted to capture another Maryland boat but was met with a hail of bullets. In the winter of 1989, a dozen men were killed on the Hog Island oyster beds.  The Oyster Wars on the Chesapeake started around 1865 and lasted until the 1950’s.

Sources:
Peninsula Enterprise, November 30, 1989
The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay, by John R. Wennersten
Leslie Drummond interview, by Dr. Harry Holcomb

Why you shouldn't cross a man like General John Cropper, Jr.

A copy of a portrait of General
Cropper painted by Charles
Wilson Peale on display at
Ker Place. The original is at
the Smithsonian.

Written by Randy Stuart as part of the On-Line Lesson Plans

One of the Eastern Shore’s prominent early Americans was General John Cropper. He was born on December 23, 1755 at the family plantation, Bowman’s Folly in Joynes Neck, Accomack County, Virginia.  John served in the Revolutionary War as early as 1775, training in Accomack County. At age 20, he married Margaret Pettitt, whom he called Peggy, on August 15, 1776 at Accomack Co. Also in 1776 he was commissioned captain of a Shore company of the 9th Virginia Regiment, which in December left to join General Washington at Morristown. Sadly, both of his parents died that same year.

In 1777 he was commissioned major of the 7th Virginia Regiment and, in September, suffered a bayonet wound in the thigh at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. The flag bearer had been shot so John Cropper pulled the ramrod out of a musket and tied a red bandana to it. He then raised and carried it as the regiment’s flag. He led his men back to General Washington. In 1778 General Lafayette appointed him lieutenant colonel in command of the 11th Virginia Regiment and in June he participated in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey. Cropper served with the Virginia troops during the hardships of the winter at Valley Forge. Cropper became devoted to his commander-in-chief, George Washington, and the two men remained friends until Washington’s death in 1799.

In September of 1778, John Cropper requested leave to return home to check on his family and his

Bowman's Folly. Picture credit: http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/
registers/Counties/Accomack/nr_bowmans_folly_photos.htm

property. This was a common practice of officers and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. He returned to Accomack County to find Eastern Shore families had been under constant attack from British raiding parties who sailed up the creeks, landed, ransacked and robbed homes, and sometimes burned down the houses. In fact, according to his diary entry of February 12, 1779:

A group of British raiders from the Thistle Tender rowed up Folly Creek with muffled oars. They had crept quite close to his house, Bowman’s Folly, and then burst through the doors as he and his family were in their beds. Cropper was taken by the raiders to a room and left there guarded by two men holding loaded muskets. The remainder of the raiding team found the wine cellar began drinking heavily and then ransacked the house. Cropper listened to the ever growing level of noise and deduced his guards might have become distracted. He quietly lifted the door latch, pulled open the door, and jumped past the two startled raiders. He ran two miles in his bedclothes to a neighbor’s house. Armed with three old muskets, they raced back to Bowman’s Folly. When they were in earshot of the loudly drunken raiders, Cropper’s neighbor became afraid and ran away. Cropper, armed with two muskets, sneaked up near the house and shot off both guns. He then yelled at the top of his voice, “Come on, boys, we have got them now.” This trick fooled the raiders and they ran to the boats and rowed away. Cropper went to search for his wife and two year old daughter.

He had been just in time. The raiders had been laying a track of gunpowder from the house to the creek. But where were Peggy and little Sarah? He found them in the privy. He had saved his wife, child and house, but they had been robbed of many possessions and the house had suffered some structural damage including a number of broken windows.

Fearing another raid, Cropper moved his family to another house he owned which was in the town of Accomac. But John Cropper was a determined soldier and was infuriated by this ungentlemanly and unmilitary attack on his home. In two weeks time, he had mustered men and weapons. With the help of “brass four pound guns” placed on Parramore and Cedar Islands, Cropper and his men opened fire on the Thistle Tender and her sister ships. Cropper had the satisfaction of seeing the ship which held the raiders of his family and property sink with all hands on board.

Concerned about his young wife and daughter, his neighbors, and the precarious situation on the Eastern Shore at this stage of the war, Cropper wrote a letter resigning his commission in the Continental Army. The letter was never accepted officially and Cropper served subsequently as Colonel of Virginia Militia in Accomack County until the war ended.

In addition to his military possessions on exhibit at Ker Place, the Cropper Bed and the Cropper Cradle may be found in the master bedroom. We hope you will return to Ker Place and learn more about John Cropper, including his service during the War of 1812.


Sources:
1. Memoir of General John Cropper of Accomack County, Virginia. Barton Haxall Wise. Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, 1892; 1974.
2. Eastern Shore of Virginia 1608 – 1967. Susie M. Ames, Ph.D. and James Egbert Mears. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1950. (& additions)
3. www.espl-genealogy.org/MilesFiles/surname_index.htm. 5 November 2013.
4. Kitchens, Smokehouses, and Privies: Outbuildings and the Architecture of Daily Life in the Eighteen Century Mid-Atlantic. Michael Olmert. Cornell University Press, 2009.
5. Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Ralph T. Whitelaw. Peter Smith, Gloucester, Mass., 1951.
6. Tangier in the American Revolution. - Gail Walczyk. easternshoreheritage.com/bay_islands/​tangier_1.htm 3 February 2014. (Barnes, Alton Brooks Parker, Pungoteague to Petersburg, Vol I, Eastern Shore Militiamen Before the Civil War 1776-1858, (A Lee Howard Book: A Parker Barnes.)
7. www.totallyhistory.com/preliminary-articles-of-peace-1782/. 12 February 2014.
8. "Society of the Cincinnati" 27 February 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/revolutionary-war/society-of-the-cincinnati.htm> 14 February 2014.

The First European Settler on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Crossword Puzzle from ESVHS's
free on-line lesson plans.

written by Randy Stuart (ESVHS Education Director) as part of the On-line Lesson Plan curriculum

Thomas Savage is considered by many historians to be the earliest permanent settler in any of the thirteen colonies whose descendants are known and record. His family origins and place of birth in England remain a mystery.

Ensign Thomas Savage set sail from England in 1607 aboard the John and Francis. Christopher Newport captained the ship. Thomas, recorded aged 13, may have been a cabin boy on this supply ship headed for the Jamestown Colony.

In A True Relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate (1608), John Smith recounted how an English delegation presented Powhatan with "a Boy of thirteen yeares old, called Thomas Salvage,” as Captain Christopher Newport’s son. Savage remained with Powhatan and his people for three years, learning their language and customs. His talents were put to use most effectively in the successful negotiations to end the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

Thomas later was returned to Jamestown and then sent to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. There he met the leader of the native people, King Debedeavon. His titles included ‘Ye Emperor of Ye Easterne Shore and King of Ye Great Nussawattocks” and “the Laughing King.” These two men worked together to keep the colonists at Jamestown informed concerning events which would lead to the massacre of 1622.

King Debedeavon granted Thomas Savage large tracts of land which today comprise Savage’s Neck in

Word search from ESVHS's
free on-line lesson plans.

Northampton County. In 1624, according to depositions in the General Court Minutes, Savage facilitated the delivery to James City of a significant quantity of corn from the Eastern Shore. Savage continued to manage his lands and act as interpreter throughout his life.

Savage married Hannah (Ann) Elkington circa 1623 and they had one son, John.

His date of death is not of record but occurred sometime between 1631 and 1633. To honor his contributions to America’s history, a memorial tablet was placed in the Jamestown Church on May 31, 1931.

Sources:

Eastern Shore of Virginia 1608 – 1967. Susie M. Ames, Ph.D. and James Egbert Mears. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1950. (& additions)

Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony. The First Decade: 1606-1617. Edited by Edward Wright Haile. 1998

The Story of Virginia’s First Century. Mary Newton Stanard. J. B. Lippincott Company, 1928.

The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624. Jamestown Booklet No. 1. Charles E. Hatch, Jr. University of Virginia Press, 1957.

Indians in Seventeenth-Century Virginia. Jamestown Booklet No. 3. Ben C. McCary. University of Virginia Press, 1957.

The Accomac and Accohannock Indians from Early Relations. C. A. Weslager. Hickory House, 2001.

A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. James Horn. Basic Books, 2005.

Invented Scenes for Narratives/Virginia Historical Society. www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources 9/19/2013.

Plaque Dedication to Thomas Savage. http://personal.ayrix.net/savage1/articles 9/19/2013.

Chesapeake Bay – Colonial Period – The Mariners’ Museum. www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/colonial 9/26/2013