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revised 9-29-2003

VIRGINIA

Virginia began colonization in May 1607 with the arrival of three boatloads of English immigrants, who arrived on the northeast short of the James River. Captain John Smith and several companions sailed into several of the bays and river openings before selecting this as a final destination for his group.

Unfortunately, little planning went into this settlement and many of the settlers died from illness and lack of food. The settlers sent here were not farmers, but rather adventurers and entrepreneurs who came in search of gold, silver and other valuable commodities.  Twice in their early period, settlements were attempted.  In 1584, the settlement of Roanoke began, but this group returned home after only a year.  A second settlement was established in 1587, but vanished without a trace.  The settlers fell victim to starvation, disease and Indian attack.  Attempting to save his people and secure supplies for his people, Captain John Smith lead a trading mission to  the camps of Chief Powhattan, ruler of the several tribes of the Chesapeake Bay area.  Smith won the favor of Princess Pocahontas, and through gifts provided by the tribes, food was procured to sustain the colony for the winter.  John Rolfe married Pocahontas and was known to have visited England.  New supplies were brought over in 1608 and 120 new immigrants replenished the loss of inhabitants.  by 1609, the colony consisted of around 490 souls.  By 1610, this group had dwindled to around 60. This group decided to return to England and were on their way home when Lord Delaware's ships pulled into harbor and they were convinced to return to shore.  More food and additional colonists arrived from England later in 1610.  Early Virginians were introduced to tobacco growing by John Rolfe in 1612 and this remains a primary source of income for many of the Virginia farmers.

    In 1619, The house of Burgesses became Americas first representative assembly.  Virginia was appointed as a royal colony in 1624.  It was in almost constant trouble with the Crown or its representatives as the colonists objected to the arbitrary actions of the colony officials and their demands. In 1693, one of America's oldest colleges was founded and named College of William and Mary.  (For those of you who are researchers, the William and Mary collection is one of the best resources available for early colonial records.  A copy of these books are housed at the Sons of the Revolution Library in Glendale for those in the Los Angeles area.)  

    Until 1680, the Episcopal church was the state church in Virginia.  All children regardless of religious affiliation, had to be baptized by the ministers of that church.   By 1700 there were more than 80,000 people residing in the Tidewater region of Virginia.  This increased by another 20,000 by 1717 and by 1754, the population exceeded 250,000.  Settlers were moving over the coastal plain, the Piedmont plateau and had crossed over the Blue Ridge highlands and settled into the Valley of Virginia as far as the Appalachian Plateau. 

    By the 1730s, there was heavy immigration from Pennsylvania into Virginia consisting of ethnic groups of Scotch-Irish, Welsh and Germans.  These settled in the upper valleys.  These groups represented the Welsh Baptist church, the English Quakers and the Scotch Presbyterians.  The first Methodist churches were established in that region in about 1800.  Other groups to join the region were Russians, English, Germans, Italians, Greeks, Polish, Czechs, Irish, Austrians and Hungarians.   Tow primary pathways were the source of much of this immigration.  The first was from the sea and began in the 1730s.  The second pathway was called the Great Wagon Road and followed an ancient Indian Trail called the Great Warrior Road.  This led west from Philadelphia and descended into the Shenandoah Valley.  The most famous section of this road was called the Wilderness Road.  Blazed by Daniel Boone, it led southwest from the valley into Tennessee and Kentucky, crossing the Allegheny Mountains at the Cumberland Gap.

    At first, tobacco farming was not a successful enterprise.  King James I was firmly opposed to tobacco and smoking.  by 1618, however, Virginias shipments to England had increased by 2000 percent.  Virginia was a land of plantations and the areas of the Chesapeake, Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James were a territory of plantations run by small families of whites supported by a culture of slave labor, first brought over by the Dutch in 1619.  Each plantation had its own river landing where the tobacco was picked up and traded for goods from England.  It became a huge contrast between the wealthy large plantation owner and the poor small farmer.  In some counties, landowners had to pay the king a Quit Rent of one shilling for each fifty acres bought.  

    Virginia was highly involved in the Revolutionary War.  It provided us some of our most important political  and Military leaders including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason (author of the Bill of Rights), Patrick Henry, Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Jubal Early and the Lee family, including Robert E. Lee and his half brothers Francis and Richard Henry Lee. . .the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence.  In the course of the Revolution, Virginia was the site of numerous raids, and small battles.  Aided by the Marquis de Lafayette, efforts were made to protect the Colony from the British raiders, led by Lord Corwallis and the man declared to be a turncoat, Benedict Arnold.  The British raided Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson in 1781.  He managed to escape.  The last Revolutionary War battle occurred at Yorktown, where the Colonial Army, under the leadership of George Washington, and with the help of a French fleet, finally managed to trap Cornwallis and forced his surrender.

    Since its original founding, Virginia has had three state capitals.  The first Capital was established in 1609 up the James River from Chesapeake Bay, and named Jamestown.  It was chosen because it had water deep enough to harbor ships, but proved to be in the middle of a disease harboring swamp.  In 1699, the Capital was moved by then Governor Francis Nicholson, to Williamsburg.  This too failed to work.  In 1737, during the Revolutionary War, the capital was again moved and relocated to the small settlement of Richmond.  When the war was over, Richmond prospered as a primary shipping point.  The harbors became a crucial focal point later when Civil War finally erupted.  Virginia joined the United States on 25 July 1785 as the tenth state to ratify the Constitution and in 1789, Virginia provided us with the first President of the United States--George Washington.

    In 1792, three of Virginia's counties broke off and became the state of Kentucky.  Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819.  Ever mindful that they were greatly outnumbered by the slaves who farmed their lands, the plantation owners eagerly watched for news of any potential problems.  In 1831, one Nat Turner led several of the slaves in a revolt, causing new restrictions to be put into place.

    In 1861, the conflict between the North and South finally reached the boiling point and Virginia seceded from the Union.  The Confederate States of America was formed with Richmond as its capital, beginning one of the bloodiest wars in our history.  Virginia saw 26 major battles and over 400 other engagements.  The fighting in some areas became so intense that towns were frequently overrun by one side or the other.  The harbors, so vital to the Southern shipping industries, were blockaded.  This blockade led to the world's first confrontation ever with ironclad ships, when in 1862, the Merrimack and the Monitor shot it out in the harbor.  Winchester changed hands 72 times during the course of the war.  In 1863, Virginia gave up another section of its counties and West Virginia became a separate state. The first major battle of the war occurred in Bull Run and to this place, when war finally came to an end, came surrender when  in 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met at the Appomattox Court House to sign the terms and final treaty for peace.  Virginia finally rejoined the Union in 1870.

    The ports of Virginia remain an important military facility.  The Norfolk Naval base serves as home port for numerous ships and includes the headquarters of the NATO Allied Command Atlantic, the Atlantic Fleet and the Fifth Naval District.  The Virginia beaches attract thousands of visitors yearly. and people step back in time to visit the glorious homes and outstanding scenery, especially along the Skyline Drive of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Although records are difficult to locate in some areas due to the destruction of records during the wars, efforts are underway to reconstruct as much of this history as possible.  If you have records which would aid in this regard, it is recommended that you contact the people of the Genweb project, one of the groups working nationwide to reconstruct our past at www.genweb.com. or your local genealogical society.

    Virginia originally had Shires and not counties.  According to an article on Rootsweb, "In Virginia, cities are independent of the counties and maintain their own records."  Please see this article for a listing of which cities are involved as records are housed in the City in these cases and not necessarily in the county seat.

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