Edmund Rossingham | |
---|---|
Member Virginia House of Burgesses | |
Military service | |
Branch/service | Virginia colonial militia |
Rank | Ensign (1619); later Captain |
Edmund Rossingham (sometimes shown as Ensign Rossingham, Captain Rossingham or Roffingham, probably due to old style printing) was the nephew of and factor or agent for Sir George Yeardley, who was Governor of the Colony of Virginia, three times between November 1616 and November 1627, and his wife Temperance Flowerdew. Rossingham was a member of the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 for Flowerdew Hundred Plantation, Yeardley's plantation. [1]
Rossingham was a son of Temperance Flowerdew's elder sister Mary Flowerdew and her husband Dionysis Rossingham. [2] [3]
Rossingham arrived in Jamestown in April 1619 with the returning Governor Yeardley. [4] [5]
Upon Yeardley's return, he found the colony short of food, as it often was during its early years. Almost immediately, he sent Captain John Martin along with Ensign Harmon Harrison and Ensign Edmund Rossingham to the Chesapeake Bay to trade for corn with the native Indians. Later, Martin was charged, especially by Chief Opchanacanough, that when the Indians refused to sell their corn, Martin took it from them by force. The General Assembly considered the matter but unlike with later controversies concerning Martin, Rossingham, as well as Speaker John Pory and others supported Martin's side. [6]
Along with Mr. Jefferson, John Jefferson (burgess), Ensign Edmund Rossingham represented Yeardley's plantation, Flowerdew Hundred, in the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, July 30-August 4, 1619 (new style date). [4] [7]
Rossingham reported that Yeardley gave him a power of attorney and sent him to Newfoundland to trade in January 1620. [4] Rossignham worked for Yeardley as a factor in 1621 and 1623. [4] He also was in England in 1622 to seek debt relief for Yeardley from the Virginia Company of London and the Society of Southampton Hundred. [4] While in England, he testified against Captain John Martin in a Virginia Company hearing concerning Martin's disputes with Yeardley as well as giving information about conditions in Virginia. By this time, Rossingham was identified as Captain. [8]
Sir George Yeardley died in Jamestown on November 10, 1627. [5] Rossingham then tried to obtain payment for his services from Yeardley's estate, stating that he was the chief means of raising the value of the estate to 6,000 pounds. [9] Ralph Yeardley, brother of George and administrator of his estate, refused to pay Rossingham. [4] The commissioners for Yeardley's plantation awarded Rossingham 360 pounds on September 25, 1629 but Yeardley still refused to pay. [9] After Rossingham petitioned the Privy Council, on February 19, 1630, the Council ordered Ralph Yeardley to pay Rossingham 200 pounds. [4] [9] Since Yeardley still refused to comply with the order, Rossingham brought suit against him in the Court of Chancery which continued until at least November 1630. [4]
Reliable and verifiable information about Rossingham's later years and death was not found in sources searched for this page's initial posting. [10]
The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia.
Sir George Yeardley was a planter and colonial governor of the colony of Virginia. He was also among the first slaveowners in Colonial America. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for ten months from 1609 to 1610, he is best remembered for presiding over the initial session of the first representative legislative body in Virginia in 1619. With representatives from throughout the settled portion of the colony, the group became known as the House of Burgesses. It has met continuously since, and is known in modern times as the Virginia General Assembly. Yeardley died in 1627.
Francis West was a Deputy Governor of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia.
Adam Thoroughgood [Thorowgood] (1604–1640) was a colonist and community leader in the Virginia Colony who helped settle the Virginia counties of Elizabeth City, Lower Norfolk and Princess Anne, the latter, known today as the independent city of Virginia Beach.
Flowerdew Hundred Plantation dates to 1618/19 with the patent by Sir George Yeardley, the Governor and Captain General of Virginia, of 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the south side of the James River. Yeardley probably named the plantation after his wife's wealthy father, Anthony Flowerdew, just as he named another plantation "Stanley Hundred" after his wife's wealthy mother, Martha Stanley. A "hundred" was historically a division of a shire or county. With a population of about 30, the plantation was economically successful with thousands of pounds of tobacco produced along with corn, fish and livestock. Sir George paid 120 pounds to build the first windmill in British America.
Christopher Lawne was an English merchant and Puritan of note, who was among the earliest settlers in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century. Born in Blandford, Dorset, he emigrated on the Marygold in May 1618 and died in Virginia the following year.
John Pory (1572–1636) was an English politician, administrator, traveller and author of the Jacobean and Caroline eras; the skilled linguist may have been the first news correspondent in English-language journalism. As the first Speaker of the Virginia General Assembly, Pory established parliamentary procedures for that legislative body still in use today.
Captain Samuel Mathews was a Virginia planter, political figure, and the father of Governor Samuel Mathews.
Temperance Flowerdew, Lady Yeardley was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and a key member of the Flowerdew family, significant participants in the history of Jamestown. Temperance Flowerdew was wife of two Governors of Virginia, sister of another early colonist, aunt to a representative at the first General Assembly and "cousin-german" to the Secretary to the Colony.
Edward Bennett, was an English merchant based in London, and a free member of the Virginia Company. A Puritan who had lived in Amsterdam for a period, he established the first large plantation in the colony of Virginia in North America, in what became known as Warrosquyoake Shire.
William Powell, was an early Virginia colonist, landowner, militia officer and legislator. Considered an Ancient Planter for living in the Virginia colony during its first decade, he was one of two representatives from what became James City County, Virginia in the first Virginia House of Burgesses in 1619. His former plantation, now across the James River in Surry County, Virginia is now within Chippokes State Park.
Ensign Washer or Ensign Thos (Thomas) Washer was an early Virginia colonist who settled in the area that became Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Washer and Christopher Lawne represented Lawne's Plantation as burgesses in the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the lower house of the colonial Virginia General Assembly, in 1619.
Edward Flowerdew, was an English judge and MP.
William Farrar was a landowner and politician in colonial Virginia. He was a subscriber to the third charter of the Virginia Company who immigrated to the colony from England in 1618. After surviving the Jamestown massacre of 1622, he moved to Jordan's Journey. In the following year, Farrar became involved in North America's first breach of promise suit when he proposed to Cecily Jordan.
Cecily Jordan Farrar was one of the earlier women settlers of colonial Jamestown, Virginia. She arrived in the colony as a child in 1610 and was established as one of the few female ancient planters by 1620. After her husband Samuel Jordan died in 1623, Cecily obtained oversight of his 450-acre plantation, Jordan's Journey. In the Jamestown Muster of 1624-1625, she is one of fewer than 10 women who are mentioned as a head of household, and the only woman listed as sharing the head of household with a man she was not married to. In the year of Samuel Jordan's death, she set off the first breach of promise lawsuit in English North America when she chose the marriage proposal of William Farrar, who was bonded to help settle her estate, over that of Greville Pooley, who claimed his proposal had already been accepted. In 1625, Cecily prevailed when Pooley withdrew his claim. Afterward, she married William Farrar.
Samuel Sharpe, sometimes referred to as Samuel Sharp was an early Virginia colonist who settled in the area that became Charles City County, Virginia. He came to Virginia in 1610 with most of the passengers and crew of the Sea Venture as they made their way to the colony after 10 months in Bermuda. They had wrecked in a storm there and built two small boats to complete their journey to Jamestown. Along with Samuel Jordan, he represented Charles City as a burgess in the first general assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. He was a representative for Westover, an incorporation of Charles City, in the 1623/24 assembly and signed a letter along with several burgesses at the time of that assembly.
William Spencer was an early Virginia colonist on Jamestown Island, who was an Ancient planter and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia for Mulberry Island in 1632/33.
William Sharpe was an early Virginia colonist, soldier, ancient planter, and Virginia Company shareholder who settled in the Bermuda Hundred area that became part of Charles City County, Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia in 1629.
John Pollington was an early Virginia colonist who was a member of the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 for the "Citie" of Henricus, Virginia. In 1624, he was a burgess for Warrosquyoake Shire sometimes shown as Warresqueak and other variations, now Isle of Wight County, Virginia. He also was a landowner and merchant.
Robert Stacy was a colonist and politician in the Colony of Virginia who briefly served as one of the 22 members of the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1619.