Captain Matthews, an old planter, of above thirty years' standing, one of the council, and "a most deserving commonwealth man," had a fine house, sowed much hemp and flax, and had it spun; he kept weavers, and had a tannery, where leather was dressed; and had eight shoemakers at work; had forty negro servants, whom he brought up to mechanical trades; he sowed large crops of wheat and barley. The wheat he sold at four shillings (about a dollar) a bushel. He also supplied vessels trading in Virginia, with beef. He had a plenty of cows, a fine dairy, a large number of hogs and poultry. Captain Matthews married a daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, and "kept a good house, lived bravely, and was a true lover of Virginia."
There was a free school, with two hundred acres of land appurtenant, a good house, forty milch cows, and other accommodations. It was endowed by Mr. Benjamin Symms. There were, besides, some small schools in the colony, probably such as are now known as "old-field schools."[209:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[200:A] 1 Hening, 230; Burk, ii. 68.
[201:A] Art. by J. Wingate Thornton, Esq., in Mass Gen. and Antiq. Register for 1847, page 348.
[201:B] Ibid., 352.
[202:A] Chalmers' Annals, 133.
[203:A] 1 Hening, 277.
[204:A] Carlyle's Cromwell, i. 144.