Thomas Eastchurch | |
---|---|
5th Governor of Albemarle Sound | |
In office 1675–1676 | |
Preceded by | John Jenkins |
Succeeded by | John Jenkins |
Personal details | |
Died | January 1678 Jamestown,Virginia |
Spouse | Name unknown (married in 1677) |
Occupation | surveyor general and governor of Albemarle County |
Thomas Eastchurch (? - January,1678) was governor of Albemarle County,North Carolina between 1675 and 1676. During his time in office,he imprisoned the former governor John Jenkins for various offenses. Jenkins was later released from prison with the aid of his supporters and reclaimed his position as governor in the spring of 1676. After Eastchurch explained the situation in London to the Lords Proprietors,they reappointed him as governor. In 1677,he left London to celebrate his honeymoon in Nevis Island. During his absence,his fellow proprietary Thomas Miller acted as governor. Miller's crimes created a revolt and Eastchurch,upon return to Albemarle,was unable to help the government recover. In addition,the Anti-Proprietors' leaders decided to send an army to the northern part of the Albemarle County to prevent the new governor from accessing Albemarle. Although Eastchurch sought aid to invade the county,he never got it. He did not return to the government of Albemarle until after the spring of 1676.
Many details about Eastchurch's childhood are largely unknown. A description provided by Lords Proprietors stated that Eastchurch was raised in a very wealthy family. In October 1669 he worked as surveyor general of Albemarle County (although he aspired to be Governor of Albemarle County). An influential relative of Eastchurch,Thomas Clifford,recommended Eastchurch to the Lords Proprietors for the government of Albemarle. [1]
In the September 1675 Albemarle County elections,the faction of Eastchurch was elected to govern the General Assembly of North Carolina. Eastchurch was appointed governor and Speaker of the Assembly. However,he only used this last title,never that of governor. [2] In fall 1675, [1] after beginning his government,Eastchurch imprisoned Jenkins for various offences. [2] [1] [3] However,in the spring of 1676,supporters of Jenkins helped him to get out from prison and return the charge of governor of the region. Eastchurch travelled to London,together to his fellow proprietary Thomas Miller,in order "to appeal to the Lords Proprietors". [1]
Eastchurch's achievement convinced the Lords Proprietors that the problems in Albemarle were caused by the leaders of the anti-proprietary faction. [1] The proprietors decided to appoint Eastchurch as governor of the region, [1] [3] as well as of the rivers Pamplico and News, [1] while Miller become a council member,secretary,and customs collector. [4]
In the summer of 1677, [1] Eastchurch and Miller left London [2] and embarked to Albemarle. [1] However,they stopped temporarily in the Nevis Island, [2] where Eastchurch met and married a rich [2] [1] heiress. [3] Eastchurch decided to go on a honeymoon with her, [2] [1] [3] staying on the island longer. [2] [3] While away,he appointed Miller as Interim Governor and President of the Executive Council of Albemarle. [2] [1] [3] However,after the beginning of his administration in Albemarle,Miller was imprisoned because of crimes he apparently committed in the region and the riots that these crimes instigated. [note 1]
Although Eastchurch arrived in Virginia in December 1678,he could not occupy the governor's charge of Albemarle because a revolt was developing there. Eastchurch demanded several things:the resignation of the colonists to their guns,release of prisoners from prison,restoration of Miller's government,and the formation of a delegation with the aim to visit Virginia to learn and explain the origin of the revolt.
Eastchurch's demands were rejected,but Eastchurch was able to halt the advancement of the trial against Miller. Anti-Proprietors leaders decided to send an army to the northern part of Albemarle County with the intent of preventing the new governor from entering Albemarle. Eastchurch decided to invade Albemarle County,and wanted to form an army in the Virginia colony. He sought help from Virginia Governor William Berkeley to assemble the troops,but Berkeley refused to accept the invasion and Eastchurch was never able to invade the county. Eastchurch died of fever in January 1678, [1] in Jamestown,Virginia. [2]
The Province of Carolina was a province of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into North and South in 1712.
John Jenkins was an English soldier and radical advocate for self-government. He served as governor of Albemarle four times: 1672–1675; 1676–1677; 1678–1679; 1680–1681, becoming the only person who has served as proprietary governor so many times.
George Durant was an attorney, Attorney General and Speaker of the House of Burgesses in the Province of Carolina. He is sometimes called the "father of North Carolina".
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
Cary's Rebellion was an uprising against the Deputy Governor of North-Carolina in 1711 led by Thomas Cary, who refused to give up his governorship to Edward Hyde. The rebellion was a part of a long-standing tension between religious and political groups in northern Carolina, generally divided between the Quaker party, of which Cary was a part, and the Church of England party, to which Hyde belonged.
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.
Josias Fendall(c. 1628 – c. 1687) was an English colonial administrator who served as the Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was born in England, and came to the Province of Maryland. He was the progenitor of the Fendall family in America.
Peter Carteret was the Governor of the British colony of Albemarle from 1670 to approximately 1672.
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.
Thomas Miller was the acting colonial governor of North Carolina for about six months in 1677 during the absence of the official governor Thomas Eastchurch. During Miller's government, the Anti-Proprietors, led by John Culpeper, provoked the Culpeper's Rebellion.
Seth Sothel was a colonial fraudulent American proprietor and governor of the Province of Carolina. He claimed he ruled the northern portion, Albemarle Sound, in 1678 and the southern portion from 1690 to 1692. He died in North Carolina around 1694.
Henderson Walker (1659-1704) was the Acting Deputy Governor of North Carolina from 1699 to 1704. He is better known for his contribution in the founding of the Church of England in the Albemarle Sound region.
Culpeper's Rebellion was a popular uprising in 1677 provoked by the enforcement of the Navigation Acts. It was led by settler John Culpeper against the ruling Lords Proprietor in Albemarle County, Carolina, near what is now Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The uprising met with only limited success, but Culpeper himself was acquitted of rebellion and became a hero, and the Lords Proprietor subsequently made efforts to strengthen the colony's government.
Thomas Harvey (1668–1699) was the Deputy Governor of North Carolina from 1694 to 1699.
John Harvey was the governor of Albemarle Sound, in The Carolinas, in 1679.
Frances Stephens Berkeley Ludwell, most commonly styled Lady Frances Berkeley after her second marriage, was a leader of the Green Spring faction of Virginia politics in the seventeenth century and wife to three colonial governors.
The Revolution of 1719 was a bloodless military coup in the Province of South Carolina which resulted in the overthrow of the Lords Proprietors and the installation of Colonel James Moore, Jr. as the colony's de facto ruler, a post he held until 1721.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Herbert Jeffreys was an English Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the acting governor of Virginia in the immediate aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion. American historian Douglas Edward Leach described Jeffreys as a "chief troubleshooter" and "the most active and expert guardsman in the political police function of the courtier army."