Bargrave had been hopeful of trading with Martin's Brandon and transporting more colonists, yet Argall, to support the Colony, compelled the Edwin to remain in Virginia for almost a year and to be used in the Colony and on the coast. It was March, 1618 before it could set sail for England. In the meanwhile, Company affairs had come under different management and Martin's patent was under fire.
When the Assembly was called in 1619, his plantation, now being well established, sent two representatives down to Jamestown. The Burgesses challenged them saying that Martin's patent exempted his settlement from obedience to the laws of the Colony. Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy could be seated, it was ruled, if Martin would bring his patent into conformity. This he would not do saying that he would not "infringe any parte" of it. Thereupon, the General Assembly submitted the case to the Company for a definition and explanation of the offending clauses in Martin's patent. Later, exception was taken to the nature of the operation of Martin's Brandon plantation. It was alleged to be "a receptacle of vagabonds and bankrupts & other disorderly p[er]sons & whereof there hath been a public complaint...." It was charged further to be a place "where such as are indebted do shroud and rescue them selves under his protection."
Martin proceeded to fight for his patent in England and did all that he could to maintain it. In the end, however, on April 2, 1623, he accepted a new one for the land to be "laid out in Martin's Brandon." He was denied the request for the nearby "swamps and boggs" for the use of "his swine."
When he had departed for England in the spring of 1621 he had left his settlement in the care of Lieutenant Edward Saunders. It was not until 1624 that Martin returned to Virginia with more servants and supplies. In the meanwhile the massacre had caused at least the temporary abandonment of the plantation after seven persons had been slain here. The area is not mentioned as such in either the population listing of 1624 or in the census of 1625. In the listing of land patents in 1625, however, there is an entry that reads "Marttin Brandon belonging to Captaine John Marttin by Patent out of England (planted)." A later deed (1643) defines "Martin's Brandon" as 4,550 acres between Chippokes and Ward's Creeks.
Richard Pace, late in 1620, braved the wilds over the river from Jamestown when, on December 5, he received a grant for 200 acres upstream from Jamestown. These acres became known as "the plantation called Paces Paines." It was in the territory of Tappahanna in the western extremity of the Corporation of James City. Adjoining him was the 100 acre tract granted, at the same time, to Francis Chapman who was described as "scituate nere unto Paces-Paines." This, a little later, was added to the Pace holdings. Pace was an "ancient planter" as was his wife Isabella who also took land in her own right. Their son George seated here and later claimed fifty acres each for the transportation of 6 persons in the Marmaduke in 1621. John Burrows became one of their neighbors.
Paces-Paines was seated soon after the patent was issued in 1620 and Richard, who produced tobacco here, reported later that he "bestowed great cost & charges uppon building ther, & cleareing of ground." He made this statement when he applied, successfully, for permission to return to his plantation some months after the massacre of 1622.
Both Pace and his plantation are mentioned in the accounts of this Indian uprising. As reported later, "if God had not put it into the heart of an Indian ... to disclose it, the slaughter of the massacre could have been even worse." This Indian, one Chanco by name, belonged to William Perry. Perry was active in the Paces-Paines area and later married Richard Pace's widow and became "Commander" of the settlement. The night before the Indian attack Chanco was at Pace's. In the night he told Pace, who, it is reported, "used him as a sonne," of the impending danger. Whereupon Pace secured his own house and quickly crossed the river to Jamestown. The governor then spread the word as rapidly as possible undoubtedly saving many lives in the Jamestown area. Chanco, the Christian convert, has become a Virginia hero.
The retrenchment following the massacre led to the temporary abandonment of Paces-Paines; yet late in 1622 Pace returned, having promised to "fortifie & strengthen the place with a good company of able men." Although not listed in 1624, the settlement was among those enumerated in 1625. At that time it had a population of thirteen persons. It is of note, perhaps, that the census made no mention of Pace, or Perry, yet it does mention Francis Chapman as in residence. It included four old planters: John Proctor (1607), Phettiplace Close (1608), Thomas Gates (1609) and Francis Chapman (1608).