Heroines of Virginia - William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1, Pages 39-41 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** HEROINES OF VIRGINIA 1. Mrs. Forrest, wife of Thomas Forrest, gentleman, the first gentlewoman to come to Virginia. She arrived in the Second Supply, October 1608. 2. Anne Burrass, the maid of Mrs. Forrest, who married in December, 1608, John Laydon, a carpenter. This was the first marriage in the colony. 3. Virginia Laydon, born in Virginia, in 1609, the first child born in the colony. It is a tribute to the settlers at Jamestown that she survived the "Starving Time" which succeeded her birth, during which most of hte colonists perished. 4. Pocahontas, daughter of the mighty prince Powhatan and "the nonpareil of her race". Born 1595, and buried in the Parish church at Gravesend, England, March 21, 1617. She was the wife of John Rolfe, councillor, secretary of state, and the first raiser of tobacco (1612). 5. Alice Proctor, who lived on Proctor's creek near Richmond, and who, in 1622, defended her plantation against savages with great bravery. She is referred to as "Mistress Proctor, a proper, civill, modest gentlewoman". She afterwards refused to obey the order of the council to abandon her house for a safer location at Jamestown, and would not retire till the officers threatened to burn it down. She was widow of John Proctor. 6. Lady Margaret Wyatt, who came to Virginia, in 1621, with her husband, Sir Francis Wyatt, and of whom the poet wrote: But last of all that Lady faire that woman worth renowne That left her Countrey and her friends to grace brave James his Towne. Page 40. The wife unto our Governor did safely here arrive With many gallants following her whom God preserved alive. What man would stay when Ladies gay both lives and fortunes leaves To taste what we have truly fowne-- truth never man deceaves. She was the niece of Sir Edwin Sandys, the noble and loyal friend of Virginia. 7. VIRGINIA FERRAR, who was the daughter of John Ferrar, deputy treasurer under Sir Edwin Sandys in 1620. Her grandfather, Nicholas Ferrar, was one of the greatest friends of the colony, and in his capacious mansion, in London, after April, 1619, the London Company held their meetings. Her uncle, Nicholas Ferrar, Jr., succeeded his brother as deputy treasurer under the Earl of Southampton, and was noted for his love of Virginia, his business capacity, scholarship and piety. Another uncle, William Ferrar, showed his interest in Virginia by settling there and founding the well known family of the Ferrars(1). Virginia Ferrar inherited the affections of her family for the colony, and though she never came to Virginia had a large correspondence with the principal planters. She has a silkworm factory at her father's beautiful home at Little Gidding in Hungtingdonshire, and made many experiments in the breeding and raising of silk worms. She was particularly impressed with the superior size and hardihood of the silk worm found native to Virginia, and eagerly urged the culture in the colony. Out of the letters she received, her brother, a young scholar, made a paper of rhyming lines, which gives us an interesting insight into the times. Among the names of the planters that come in for commendation are those of Edward Digges, her "cousin" Mrs. Mary Ward, her "kinsman" Esquire Ferrar, William Wright, of Nansemond, Col. George Ludlow, Major John Westrope, Sir ___________________________________________ (1)The pronunciation of Ferrar was Farrar, the spelling adopted in Virginia. Page 41 Henry Chickeley, and Mr. George Lobs. Miss Ferrar died at Little Gidding in the year 1687(2). 10. The wife of Anthony Haviland. Her husband is said to have been the first to gather the people in Bacon's Rebellion, and to have indited the first declaration. She was sent post haste up and down the cuontry as Bacon's emissary to carry his "declarations and papers". I have not ben able to ascertain her maiden name. 11. Sarah Drummond, the wife of William Drummond, who was Bacon's leading adviser. She lived just west of the church tower at Jamestown. When others doubted, she picked up from the ground a small stick and broke it and said: "I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw". She was probably the daughter of Edward Prescott, who, in his will, left her a lot at Jamestown. After the execution of her husband, she complained to the British government in behalf of her five children. 12. Lydia Chisman, wife of Major Edmund Chisman, who threw herself at Sir William Berkeley's feet and asked to be executed in his stead, because, as she said, she incited him to rebellion. Her husband died in a prison and she married Thomas Harwood. Some years later she was killed by lightning. 13. Sarah Grendon, the wife of Col. Thomas Grendon, Jr., who was the only woman excepted from pardon in the act of indemnity and free pardon passed by the Grand Assembly in February, 1677. She was charged with being "a great encourager and assister in the late horrid Rebellion".