Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

During this period, the British Parliament began feuding with King Charles. The Virginians strongly favored the King, and after he was beheaded, the General Assembly passed a law recognizing Charles II, the former King's exiled son, as the lawful King of England. In return for their loyal support upon behalf of his father and himself, Charles II bestowed the title of "The Old Dominion" on the Virginia Colony, the only American colony ever to receive such an honor. Parliament tried to combat this loyalty to the King by appointing two Virginians, William Claiborne and Richard Bennett, as commissioners whose duty was to influence Virginia and gradually bring it under Parliamentary control. Parliament then provided them with an armed force. Governor Berkeley made military preparations also, but negotiations finally ended in a peaceful settlement without resorting to open hostilities in Virginia. Individuals who had favored the King during the Civil War in England between the Parliament and the King were called Cavaliers. Since Virginia had remained loyal to the King throughout this period, many Cavaliers had sought refuge in Virginia at this time. This action caused the Virginia Colony to receive the nickname of the "Cavalier State."

In 1650, Mary, Margaret and Giles Brent erected homes on Aquia Creek, Virginia. They were the first English Catholic inhabitants of Virginia. In this same area, twenty-six years later, the first English-speaking Catholic colony of Virginia was settled. In 1677, a Catholic Church was erected here. After their nephew, George Brent, and others had been successful in obtaining a Proclamation from James II guaranteeing religious freedom on the 30,000 acres of the Brenton Tract, many settlers came to this area. Today, a large bronze Crucifix can be seen near the highway in Stafford County as a reminder of the religious efforts of the Brent Family.

The Commonwealth and the "Golden Age"

The Virginia Colony finally received a charter of self-government during Oliver Cromwell's rule in England and became the Commonwealth of Virginia on March 12, 1651. The Treaty of Jamestown provided that Virginians would be guaranteed the freedoms and privileges of the English people in return for a recognition of the Puritan Commonwealth of Cromwell in England. The colony prospered under Governors Richard Bennett, Edward Digges and Samuel Matthews from 1652-1660. By 1660, the population of the Virginia Colony was approximately 33,000 or over four times as much as in 1640. Many of this number consisted of Cavaliers. The population which first had centered around Jamestown, along the James River to the junction of the James and Appomattox Rivers and along the navigable inlets, now had broadened into the Tidewater area. As tobacco production and the use of tobacco increased and as soil fertility became exhausted, more land was added to the individual farms until large plantations appeared almost common. Class society in Virginia changed, generally, from a middle-class one to two distinct classes: the wealthy plantation owner who could afford such personal workers as slaves and servants and the tenant farmer who worked for a plantation owner. In return for his services, he was usually allowed to have a small plot of ground for his own use and a small farm on which to live. When the Cavaliers, mostly wealthy gentlemen, migrated to Virginia, they brought added aristocracy to the Virginia Colony.

In the meantime, other counties had been formed in Virginia. An area which had been settled originally in Upper Norfolk was named Nansemond County in 1642. "Nansemond" is an Indian word meaning "fishing point or angle." In 1648, the county of Northumberland was formed from a large Indian district formerly known as Chickacoan and it was named for Northumberland County, England. From this large area, one hundred sixteen counties were later formed. Within a twenty-five year period, seven additional counties were created: Gloucester County (formed from York and named for the third son of Charles I, Henry-Duke of Gloucester), New Kent County (formed also from York and believed to have been named either for the English Kent or for Kent Island), Lancaster County (from York and Northumberland), Surry (from James City County), Westmoreland (from Northumberland and later an addition from James City County), Stafford (from Westmoreland) and Middlesex (from Lancaster)—the latter five named in honor of English counties. The formation of many new counties during this time illustrates the great increase in population which took place.

When Charles II became King of England in 1660, Britain's colonial policy changed. Previously, the colonies had been more or less neglected, and interest in England had been chiefly centered upon religion, intellectual achievement and local issues. After the Civil War in England, the importance of the colonies seemed more apparent, competition in setting up and controlling colonial empires was greater and mercantilism became the key theory accepted by the leading countries of Europe. Mercantilism was based upon the idea that the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country and that they had specific obligations or responsibilities to fulfill, namely: (1) to produce the articles which the mother country needs and which are impossible for the mother country to produce; (2) to supply the mother country with foodstuffs which she needs, (3) to furnish a market for the mother country's manufactured goods, and (4) to export colonial goods in mother country ships only. Earlier in 1651, Parliament had passed a law prohibiting foreign vessels from trading with the American colonists. This law had been aimed primarily at the Dutch. It also stated that all products sent by the American colonies to England or sent from one colony to another had to be carried in either English or American ships. However, there had not been strict enforcement of this law in Virginia.

The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663 were passed providing that goods imported into the colonies had to be carried by English, Irish or American ships. The act further stated that certain "enumerated articles" or exports could be sent only to the British Isles or to the English possessions: for example, tobacco, sugar, apples, wool, indigo and dyewood. The list was increased as time passed, and the ill feeling of the Virginia Colony as well as the other English colonies in America toward the mother country can be fully understood, especially since higher prices for their articles could be obtained from foreign countries. The second Navigation Act required that all European goods destined for the American colonies be sent to England and then shipped to America in English ships. Thus, England tried to maintain a monopoly of her colonial trade. The prosperity of the Virginia Colony was affected greatly by these acts. Virginia's economy at this time was almost completely dependent upon its export tobacco trade which was far in excess of the amount of tobacco which England needed. The Navigation Acts virtually closed all the markets except England and its possessions to Virginia tobacco. As a result, the English market was suddenly flooded with Virginia tobacco. There was much excess tobacco in Virginia itself, some tobacco even rotting on the farms. The price of tobacco accordingly dropped from fourpence a pound to a halfpenny per pound by 1667. Virginia, as well as the other American colonies, at times violated the above regulations and sent some of its goods directly to other European countries in order to survive these economic blows. Thus, the Restoration Period which the Virginians had favored had some unexpected results for them. After the Virginians had urged Sir William Berkeley to resume the governorship prior to the Restoration, he had gone to England to intercede for the colonists concerning the tobacco trade and the other Navigation Acts, but his efforts had been futile.

Another surprise was received by the Virginians at this time. While Charles II was in exile in France in 1649, he granted more than five million acres of land lying between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers to four Cavalier friends. This grant was called the "Northern Neck Proprietary" of Virginia. Twenty years later, he granted a new charter for the same territory to the surviving grantees. These actions were unknown to the colonists, and much of this same land had been settled under patents issued by the Colony itself. When the colonists learned of the new charter, there was much protest, and some of the colonists tried to buy out the grantees' interests. However, in most cases, their efforts were in vain. This grant was later referred to as the Fairfax Proprietary or Fairfax Grant. In 1673, the colonists found out that King Charles II had bestowed the rest of the Colony as a gift upon the Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpeper for thirty-one years. This eventually had no lasting ill effects upon the colonists because Lord Culpeper later purchased the Earl of Arlington's interest and King Charles himself bought back the entire area from him for a six hundred pounds per year pension. Lord Fairfax V became the owner in 1689 and the proprietary itself was abolished by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786.

In 1671, two explorers, Thomas Batts and Robert Fallon, traveled by horseback from Fort Henry (present Petersburg area) up the Roanoke Valley and across the Blue Ridge Mountains until they reached the top of the Allegheny Mountains. They proceeded to the New River and to an area in the present town of Narrows in Giles County. In order to claim this land for their King, Charles II of England, they had their Indian guides peel the bark off of four trees and then burn a symbol—the initials of King Charles, of Governor William Berkeley and of Colonel Abraham Wood (who was responsible for this expedition)—on each tree with a pair of marking irons. Thus, they took possession of this land and all the area west of it in the King's name and provided a basic claim of land in Southwest Virginia.