James Crewes | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Burgesses for Henrico County | |
In office June 1676 –26 January 1677 Servingwith Nathaniel Bacon | |
Preceded by | William Farrar |
Succeeded by | Thomas Cocke |
Personal details | |
Born | 1622 England |
Died | January 26,1677 55) Jamestown,Colony of Virginia | (aged
James Crewes (or Crews) (1622 – 26 January 1677) was a British merchant who traded with the Virginia colony before emigrating there. He became a planter in Henrico County and represented it for one session of the House of Burgesses,but was executed for his participation in Bacon's Rebellion. [1] [2]
Born in England in 1622 or 1623,he had at least two brothers who were merchants.
Crewes often traveled between the colony and England as a tobacco merchant. In 1652 he testified in a legal case about the death of Francis Giles at Jordan's Point in the colony. By 1655,Crewes had acquired 541 acres and established a tobacco plantation in Henrico County on Turkey Island in the James River. By 1670 he had become captain in the local militia,and surviving court records indicate he was involved as a trustee and executor of estates. Crewes had indentured servants,including two of African descent,and had permission to have a servant of Indian descent,possibly to assist him with fur trading. By the time of his death,Crewes also owned a store and a substantial house with four fireplaces. [1]
Crewes befriended the young adventurer immigrant Nathaniel Bacon and became one of his most loyal supporters. [3] Crews and trader William Byrd I (who sided with the governor during the rebellion) encouraged Bacon's military response to Native American raids. [1]
After Governor Berkeley removed Bacon from his seat on the Governor's Council and labeled him a rebel,Governor Berkeley called for elections for the first time since 1661. Henrico County voters elected both this man and Bacon to represent them in the House of Burgesses. [4] Crewes signed one of the rebellion's crucial documents,that of August 3,with approximately 69 co-signatories,and may have held the bible when new recruits swore allegiance. He likely traveled to lower Norfolk county in southeastern Virginia in the fall,around the time of Bacon's death,and was one of the last of the rebellion's ringleaders to be caught. [1] Berkeley later called Crewes Bacon's "trumpet" and accused him of promoting the insurrection. [3]
Captured by Governor Berkeley's forces,Crewes was among the 15 or 16 former rebel captives on the warship Young Prince which docked at the colony's capital on January 19. Crewes and six or seven others received a summary trial at Berkeley's Green Spring plantation on January 24. Crewes admitted his guilt and was sentenced to be hanged two days later. The execution was carried out on January 26,1677. [2] Although Berkeley issued a proclamation two weeks later noting that those estates were not exempt from seizure because of that conviction, [3] his property went to his niece Sarah Whittingham (daughter of Edward Crewes) and nephew Mathew Crewes (son of Francis Crewes) in England. [2] In his will which he had executed on July 23,1676,Crewes also bequeathed property to relatives of Giles Carter,although their relationship is uncertain. By 1662,he may have married Margaret Llewellin,who signed a document as Margaret Crewes. [1] Thus,if Crewes married,his wife predeceased him,and they had no children.
At least part of his former plantation on Turkey Island in the James River was acquired in August by his neighbor William Randolph,where it became one of the seats of the Randolph family of Virginia. [5]
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all classes and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists.
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about halfway across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland settlement for the colony. It was established by an Act of Assembly to provide a link between Jamestown and Chiskiack, a settlement located across the Peninsula on the York River.
William Randolph I was an English-born planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. Born in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire, Randolph moved to the colony of Virginia sometime between 1669 and 1673, and married Mary Isham a few years later. His descendants include many prominent individuals including Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Robert E. Lee, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, John Randolph of Roanoke, George W. Randolph, and Edmund Ruffin. Due to his and Mary's many progeny and marital alliances, they have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia".
John Washington was an English-born merchant, planter, politician and military officer. Born in Tring, Hertfordshire, he subsequently emigrated to the English colony of Virginia and became a member of the planter class. In addition to serving in the Virginia militia and owning several slave plantations, Washington also served for many years in the House of Burgesses, representing Westmoreland County. He was the first member of the Washington family to live in North America and was a paternal great-grandfather of George Washington, the first president of the United States.
Curles Neck Plantation is located between State Route 5 and the north bank of the James River in the Varina district of Henrico County, Virginia. One of the great James River Plantations, Curles Neck has remained in active use for almost 400 years and remains a privately owned working farm which is not currently open to the public.
Philip Cottington Ludwell was an English-born planter and politician in colonial Virginia who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council, the first of three generations of men with the same name to do so, and briefly served as speaker of the House of Burgesses. In addition to operating plantations in Virginia using enslaved labor, Ludwell also served as the first governor of the Carolinas, during the colony's transition from proprietary rule to royal colony.
Edmund Jenings (1659-1727) was an English lawyer and colonial administrator who held important posts in the colony of Virginia including as the attorney general, on the Governor's Council and as acting governor, but encountered controversy and experienced financial problems in his final years.
Colonel Thomas Ballard was a prominent colonial Virginia landowner and politician who played a role in Bacon's Rebellion. He served on the Governor's Council 1670–79 and was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1680–82.
Francis Moryson was an English soldier who became a Virginia colonial official and agent. A Royalist in the English Civil War, he emigrated to the Virginia Colony, where he held several posts before returning to England and becoming the colony's agent, and finally briefly served on the commission investigating Bacon's Rebellion.
Theodorick Bland, also known as Theodorick Bland of Westover, was a planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses, as well as in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The founder of the Bland family of Virginia, his son and grandson of the same name also served in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Revolutionary War, and later descendants sharing the same name would become a federal judge and congressman.
Colonel Augustine Warner Jr. was an American planter, military officer and politician. He served in the House of Burgesses from 1666 to 1677 and was its Speaker in two separate sessions in 1676 and 1677, before and after Bacon's Rebellion. Warner then served on the Virginia Governor's Council from October 1677 until his death. Warner is the last common ancestor of George Washington and King Charles III.
Jamestown, also Jamestowne, was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as the capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. This article covers the history of the fort and town at Jamestown proper, as well as colony-wide trends resulting from and affecting the town during the time period in which it was the colonial capital of Virginia.
Arthur Allen II, also known as Major Allen was a Virginia colonial planter, merchant, military officer and controversial politician who twice served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He supported Governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and became a prominent member of the Green Spring faction opposing later royal governors.
William Kendall Sr. (I) (1621-1686) was an English merchant, planter, military officer and politician who came to own considerable land on Virginia's Eastern Shore. He represented Northampton County several times before and after Bacon's Rebellion, and during 1685 became the 21st Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses while representing Accomack County.
John Custis II (Sr.) was a North American Colonial British merchant and planter who aligned with governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and began a political career in which he served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and became one of the founders of the Custis family, one of the First Families of Virginia.
Major Robert Beverley was an English-born merchant, attorney and military officer who served as the Attorney General of Virginia from 1676 to 1677. Born in Yorkshire, he emigrated to the English colony of Virginia and worked as a merchant, growing wealthy from his business dealings. Following Bacon's Rebellion, Beverley was appointed as the colony's pro tempore attorney general. One of the wealthiest men in the Tidewater region during his lifetime, he eventually came to own roughly 28,000 acres in four counties along with several slaves, serving as the founder of the Beverley family of Virginia.
Thomas Swann was a planter, tavernkeeper, militia officer and politician in the Colony of Virginia who sat in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and survived Bacon's Rebellion.
James Bray (ca.1630-1691) was a British merchant who also became an attorney, planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia, serving nearly a decade on the Virginia Governor's Council through Bacon's Rebellion (1670-1679), and later representing James City County in the House of Burgesses, although unseated when he refused to make a loyalty oath.
Richard Lawrence was an Oxford University graduate who emigrated to the Virginia colony where after various real estate speculations, he married a wealthy widow and became a tavernkeeper in Jamestown. Lawrence became one of Nathaniel Bacon's closest confidantes during Bacon's Rebellion and briefly served in the House of Burgesses during that conflict, after which he vanished with two other men otherwise likely to have been sentenced to death for treason.
Otto Thorpe or Thorp(1630-winter of 1696/1697) was an English merchant who became a militia officer and politician of Middle Plantation in the Colony of Virginia. His home was commandeered during Bacon's Rebellion, and in April 1682, Thorpe briefly represented York County in the House of Burgesses, before returning to England, where he died more than a decade later.