Roanoke Island Colony

ROANOKE COLONISTS AND EXPLORERS: AN ATTEMPT AT IDENTIFICATION

BY WILLIAM S. POWELL

[Vol. 34 (1957), 202-226]

If I tell you how I first came to be interested in this problem I hope I will not be thought guilty of revealing state secrets. The very early years of American history have always held a special fascination for me, but this particular effort to identify the Roanoke colonists and explorers as individuals came about in a rather unusual way. Back in 1949 when I was a member of the staff of the State Department of Archives and History Dr. Christopher Crittenden (Director) had to go to Washington on business for a couple of days. For some reason—I suppose he just didn’t want to drive up alone—he asked me if I had any “official” business in Washington or any research of an official nature which I could do while there. My title at that time was Researcher so I assumed that almost any research in the field of North Carolina history which might add to our store of knowledge would be legitimate business. I had several days to find a topic so I gave the matter a bit more than just fleeting consideration. For some reason the idea came to me to see if I could find any new material in printed English records concerning the Lost Colonists. In particular, I had in mind examining the extensive lists of students and biographical volumes on the graduates of the universities at Oxford and Cambridge. I promptly set about arranging the names of these colonists in alphabetical order and also indicating those men who probably were married, as suggested by the surnames of the women and children among the colonists. These 116 names were listed on rather large sheets of paper and after them I made three columns headed “Oxford,” “Cambridge,” and “Other.” The latter was to be used to record any miscellaneous information or possible sources of information I might find.

Dr. Crittenden considered my plan a sound one so I got to go to Washington. In the Library of Congress I set to work with the Cambridge lists compiled by the Coopers and the Venns, and Foster’s and Wood’s volumes on Oxford.¹ From time to time I found references in these massive volumes which led me to other sources. After a few days of this we returned to Raleigh, but the columns on my pages had more X’s (for no reference found) than checks (which meant a possible university graduate among the colonists). Of course all I had to work with was names so I was careful to make a check on my page only if the English reference made no mention of a graduate’s career after 1587, the date of the Lost Colony. And, too, I paid careful attention to birth dates and worked under the assumption that a colonist probably would have been between, say, 18 and 35 years of age.

Well, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about what I found. I had somehow hoped to discover that among the colonists there was a doctor, a lawyer, a clergyman, a metallurgist, and perhaps even specialists in other fields. Among the possible colonists-graduates—and there were only thirteen with some likely names being checked in both the Oxford and Cambridge columns—I did find one who held a degree in civil law from Oxford and one who held a degree in medicine from Cambridge. However, there were intriguing references to other sources, mostly manuscript or printed in volumes not readily available here, which tempted me. Therefore, from time to time for the next several years, I added to my file of notes and gradually began to feel that it might really be worthwhile to give more serious thought to the problem. I decided to go about the research in a more business-like way.

On fairly heavy-weight, 5 by 8 note cards I entered the name (one to a card) of each colonist or explorer of whom I was able to find any mention. This also included officers and seamen of the ships which visited our coast between 1584 and 1590. On each card I indicated the date or dates of their visit. In the case of the Lost Colonists I also added “L.C.” in red and colored the top of the note card with red ink. This was to call my immediate attention to it and warn me in my research to eliminate from consideration any person of the same name about whom anything was known after 1587. After Professor Quinn’s recent two-volume set on the Roanoke Voyages² appeared I was able to add a number of new names to my list which previously had been drawn principally from Hakluyt. To the file of cards I transferred my notes, which heretofore had been kept in more or less haphazard fashion, and I combed the Quinn volumes for additional information.

The problem had already begun to take shape in my mind. I was trying to discover anything I could about the life of the colonists and explorers in England or wherever they lived before they came to Roanoke; anything concerning their relationship with other colonists and explorers; and anything about their life at home again after their return, if they did, in fact, return.

A very rapid and brief review of the explorations and attempts at settlement on our coast between 1584 and 1590 will set the stage.³

On March 25, 1584, Walter Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a patent to “discover, search, finde out, and view” any lands “not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people.” The patent was authorization to “goe or travaile thither to inhabite or remaine, there to build and fortifie” for a period of six years.

Within a month and two days Raleigh had dispatched a small fleet of two ships commanded by Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They sailed from London on the 27th of April by the southern route through the West Indies and sighted land off our coast on the 4th of July, 1584. It was here that they “smelt so sweet, and so strong a smel, as if we had bene in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with all kinde of odoriferous flowers,” their journal reports. Amadas and Barlowe entered Pamlico Sound at present Ocracoke Inlet and a few days later Barlowe and eight of his men reached Roanoke Island. From early July until mid-September this small band of men explored the region as best they could, traded with the Indians, and observed such things as the plants and trees, the soil, the animals, and above all, they seem to have recorded everything they could learn about the Indians and their way of life. We have the names of only eight men “of the companie” in addition to Amadas and Barlowe. Simon Fernandez, the pilot, was one of these. It was on the return voyage that the Indians, Wanchese and Manteo, were taken to England.

The following spring, on April 9, 1585, the first English colony for the New World set sail from Plymouth, in the southwest of England not far from the homes of Raleigh, Grenville, and Drake. This time a fleet of seven ships, well-supplied and manned, sailed under the command of Richard Grenville. Ralph Lane was present as “lieutenant governor” and Philip Amadas as “Admiral of the country.” The colony consisted of 108 men, all of whose names are known to us— the artist, John White, and the scientist, Thomas Hariot, being among them. On June 23 this initial colony arrived off Cape Fear (now Cape Lookout) and a few days later entered Pamlico Sound. For a whole year this colony occupied itself largely with exploratory voyages on the mainland but its base was Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island. One of Lane’s parties penetrated the wilderness for approximately 130 miles to the west and northwest, following the Roanoke River certainly as far as the present Northampton County.

In late July and early August, 1585, Grenville, who had brought this colony over, returned to Plymouth. Lane and his men expected to receive supplies and perhaps reinforcements early the following spring. Their expectations of early relief, however, were not met and on June 1, 1586, Sir Francis Drake stopped by Roanoke after an expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies. He intended merely to pay a visit, but, seeing Lane’s plight, he agreed to leave supplies and a ship for use in further explorations. Lane was inclined to accept this offer and continue to wait for more substantial relief from home. A severe storm, however, drove some of Drake’s ships to sea and the colony decided not to risk their lives further. They accepted the opportunity to return home with Drake.

Within a month after the colony’s departure the expected relief arrived in the form of a fleet of three ships commanded by Grenville. Failing to find the colony, Grenville left fifteen or eighteen men “furnished plentifully with all manner of provisions for two years” and returned home. We have evidence suggesting the names of only two of these men whose fate, like that of the Lost Colony, is not known.

The next visit to our shores Englishmen is perhaps too well known to require more than passing mention. It was to deposit the Lost Colony at Roanoke. The colonists sailed from Portsmouth on April 26, 1587, travelled by the southern route, and arrived on July 16. Among them were 91 men, 17 women, and 9 “boys and children.” Governor John White, much against his better judgment, returned to England with the fleet on August 27. Two children were born to the colonists between July 16 and August 27, bringing the total to 119 persons plus the governor. Here again, however, for several reasons it is impossible to be absolutely certain of the total. White says his list is of those “which safely arrived in Virginia, and remained to inhabite there.” Included, however, are White himself, Fernandez the pilot, George How who was killed by Indians before White sailed, and Thomas Smith who is recorded in White’s journal as having died en route to England. The name of Thomas Harris occurs twice and we do not know whether there were actually two persons of the same name or whether White made an error and recorded it twice.

The final English visit to Roanoke direct from the mother country came three years later when White at last was able to return to search for his friends and relatives. This, too, now a well known part of North Carolina history and needs no elaboration here.

I think it might be well to tell you now about a problem which plagued me not only in the initial phase of my research, but is one which is still not solved. That is one of names. Surnames had descended somewhat regularly from father to son for less than two hundred and fifty years and, indeed, English records on into the eighteenth-century contain instances of men without surnames or merely individual descriptive names. A middle name was excessively rare indeed. In fact the very earliest instance I have been able to discover of the use of a middle name occurred just ten years before the Lost Colony.⁴

Spelling, of course, was not standardized. We all have heard of the numerous ways Sir Walter, himself, spelled Raleigh.

There was not a great variety of surnames among the Roanoke colonists and explorers, and there were even fewer Christian names. Several men and one woman are identified by only one name—Captain Aubrey, Captain Boniten, Chapman, Coffar, and so on, which are surnames. But some are recorded only as Daniel and Robert, for example. Forty-two family names among all the known colonists and explorers, 1584-1590, are borne by from two to four individuals. I think this is an unusually large number in view of the fact that we have the names of some 278 Roanokers.

Inadequate identification in the records can be blamed for some of the confusion over names. For example, among the men who remained a year with Ralph Lane was a Master Allen; later one Morris Allen was a Lost Colonist. Were they the same person? Haunce Walters was another of Lane’s men; four years afterwards John White tells us that Haunce, the Surgion, was with him searching for the Lost Colonists. Was this the same person? There are other cases of possible confusion of names which make it impossible to draw up a list and say, without reservation, just who was who.

Well, I plugged away at the problems and, in the meantime, with the encouragement of Paul Green (who first suggested it to me), Inglis Fletcher, Hugh Lefler, and several others, including, of course, Dr. Crittenden, I applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue the project to what I trusted would be a conclusion. In due course the news I had been hoping for did come and early last spring I sailed for England.

Before going into the detail as to what I found you might be interested to know where I worked. The British Museum in London kept me busy all day long for the better part of two months, while the Public Record Office, the London Guild Hall, the Westminster Guild Hall, and the University of London Library were all useful for special searches. Somerset House where ancient wills, inventories of estates, and other legal records, dating back literally hundreds of years, are kept proved exceedingly fascinating and worthwhile as a place for research. The Institute of Historical Research, housed at the University of London, however, proved to be the most convenient historical reference library I have ever encountered. So far as I could tell from my limited experience, they have everything in the way of printed source material which is essential for research in English and early American history. It is nothing short of a treasure house for the researcher and I especially enjoyed it because attendants are present only to help when called upon. Each researcher gets his own books, uses them where he pleases in the building, and the Institute is open from early morning until late at night.

Several names among the Roanokers looked Scottish so I made a brief visit to Edinburgh for a look at some of the records there. However, I found nothing which seemed to indicate that I was on the right trail so I gave up that pursuit.

Incidentally, I’d like to comment that I find historical research somewhat like hunting in the woods. When you start out you never know what you’ll see. Perhaps there are tracks to follow but they may lead into a deep gulley or into a thicket. Some tracks may lead you to others, often trails cross, but sooner or later, if you’re lucky, you find your game. It may not be the deer you were seeking, but a rabbit or a squirrel is game!

This is by way of saying that I didn’t go about this research in a pre-planned way. I just followed where the trail led. As has been suspected all along, most of the Roanoke colonists seem to have come either from London or from the west of England—Devon and Cornwall, principally. The public library of Exeter in Devon proved to be a most fruitful place for research. I was particularly delighted with a marvelous manuscript index which is now there.⁵ It is made on 3 x 5 slips and filed in something over 300 standard library file drawers. Included are persons, places, things, and events of southwest England. The amazing sources indexed are impossible for me to list. Among them, however, are manuscripts in the British Museum and the Public Record Office; various parish registers; files of newspapers and periodicals located all over England; collections of various sorts owned by local and regional libraries, historical organizations, municipal corporations, churches, and even individuals. The entry cards even contain tempting bits of information extracted from the sources so they really amount to more than just an index. I must say I never heard of such a wonderful guide to this type material in this country and doubt that there is another anywhere. Harvard University has microfilmed sections of the index which are of interest to certain scholars there. This index is largely the work of one man who devoted a lifetime to it prior to his death in the early 1940’s. Since then, and occasionally before, other interested individuals have contributed slips to it, however. Sometimes I found clippings from newspapers pasted on the slips and in a few instances there were even whole articles from magazines folded up to fit the file and inserted in the proper alphabetical place.

Really, it’s impossible for me to sing the praises of this index too highly. Suffice it to say I spent numerous delightful days filling my note cards from it!

The Devon and Exeter Institution, also in Exeter, proved to be an inspiring place to visit. In appearance it is more like a private club than a library or historical society, but when I explained my purpose I was welcomed to its collections.

I was distressed in Exeter to discover that Nazi bombs had destroyed practically all of the early records formerly in the Devonshire Records Office. I felt the loss all the more keenly because in London I had discovered a calendar of the Devonshire manuscripts and among them were numerous choice-looking documents which I hoped would give me more information on the Roanokers. This was undoubtedly the most serious loss of records, so far as my own research was concerned, that I encountered.

In Plymouth the superb local history collection in the public library was quite useful. The library has recently moved into new quarters since its old building was burned out in the blitz. I also took advantage of my stay in Plymouth to use the files of the Western Morning News newspaper in its office there to follow up some “leads” from the index in Exeter.

From both Exeter and Plymouth I visited small outlying towns to examine parish registers or to visit houses which I think, with a reasonable degree of certainty, were the homes of Roanoke colonists. From Plymouth I also went out into the county of Cornwall where, in Truro, I used manuscripts in the Cornwall Records Office. I might add in passing that in England there are many counties with outstanding archives offices. The one at Truro was just being re-established in new quarters after being moved from Bodmin. Those in which I worked were staffed by intelligent and eager young people who, without exception, proved to be most helpful. They all seemed genuinely interested in my research and when I explained that I once worked in our State Archives they were extremely eager to “talk shop.” I suppose it is only to be expected in England that these people can read with facility the curious and strange (at least it still seems so to me) handwriting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Passages in manuscripts which seemed extremely difficult to me and over which I might have to puzzle for hours in transcribing, they nearly always were able to read right off as easily as the morning’s newspaper.

While still in London I undertook to establish contact with likely sources of information throughout England which I might investigate more carefully when I was touring around researching. From current books of the Who’s Who type, particularly Burke’s Landed Gentry, I noted the names and addresses of living members of families whose names were represented among the Roanoke colonists and explorers and whose genealogies, as best I could determine, were known back to that time. To these people, and there were simply hundreds of them, I wrote brief letters explaining my project and telling them about the colonists whose surnames they bore. Almost without exception I received prompt replies. I must admit that most of them had never heard of Roanoke Island, but they were very much intrigued with the idea that an ancestor might have been such an early American colonist. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of these people— there must have been at least twenty-five—who sent me manuscript family records, some of them dating from the early 1600’s, with the request that I use them as long as desired and then return them when I had finished. In one case a lady on the coast of Cornwall replied for her husband who was then at sea. She did not know for certain whether the family was descended from David Williams, who had remained with Ralph Lane for a year, but she did know about the Roanoke settlements. A nephew of hers who now lives in Greensboro, she told me, was graduated from the University of North Carolina a few years ago. I have not pursued this lead to its end, but the idea that a descendant of one of Lane’s men might now be living in North Carolina certainly fascinates me. Sometimes I’m tempted to drop this clue for fear I will learn that this Tar Heel is not a descendant.

After I had been working in London for several months I began to see something of a regional pattern in so far as the location of families was concerned. Frequently, in the sixteenth century, persons bearing a specific family name seemed to be concentrated in a small area rather than scattered throughout the country as later. This fact suggested the possible value of another batch of letters. By using Crockford’s Clerical Directory⁶ I determined the present-day names of the Church of England parishes in which these families had been centered. A letter to the local vicar explaining my work and asking for information from his parish records almost without fail brought me interesting information. In many cases either the vicar or his wife very kindly searched the registers for me and gave me the information I was seeking. In others I was told that there was no entry for the name or names I was seeking or that the registers for that period did not exist. Sometimes I was told that the registers were available, but that the search would be too time-consuming to be undertaken just then. In these cases it was necessary for me either to see the records myself, engage someone locally to make a careful search, or accept the nearly-always-offered suggestion that a search would be made later as time permitted. When I found it necessary to accept the latter course, I gave my Chapel Hill address and now, many months later, I receive an occasional report from a faithful parish priest or his clerk.

During the time I was in England I was so busy searching, following fresh leads, and making notes (to say nothing of writing letters!) that I seldom stopped to take stock of just what I was finding. I felt like I imagine a cow must feel when let into a new pasture in the spring. I was busy eating all the grass I could hold, expecting later to lie down and digest it at leisure.

That’s what I’ve been doing the past few weeks and I’d like to share with you some of my findings. By no means are they all conclusive. I still have much more work to do in digging up material, and more decisions to make on the basis of what I have found and perhaps will still find.

Among the nearly 280 colonists and explorers who came to Roanoke and vicinity during the six years, it seems that twenty-two were not English-born. Three others have foreign-sounding names, but I have been able to establish them as being foreign. These are Shaberdge, Skevelabs, and Smolkin. Nine nationalities are represented by the twenty-two: German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Irish, Scottish, Danish, Flemish, and Welsh. The Germans seem to have been mining specialists who had worked in the tin mines of Cornwall and elsewhere in England. The Spanish and Portuguese representatives were pilots; the Dane, Martin Laurentson, was a member of Grenville’s expedition in 1585. A letter from Frederik II of Denmark to Queen Elizabeth tells us that Laurentson “intends to devote his attention to the art of naval warfare” and Frederik requested that he be put in the charge of a skilled naval officer for that purpose. Except for the Irish, Welsh, and Scotsmen, the other foreign-born elements appear to have been residents of England for at least several years. These people were about evenly divided among the various expeditions.⁷

Of the whole number of people coming to Roanoke, only fourteen made the voyage over more than once, so far as the records show.⁸ As has been stated already, however, we do not have complete lists of all the colonists and explorers and it is entirely possible that this figure is too low. John White came the maximum number of times—five. Simon Fernandez came three times, and Philip Amadas came twice. Only two of the Lost Colonists, however, had been to Roanoke before. Seven of the men who spent a year with Ralph Lane returned for a second time. In 1590 when John White returned to relieve, and as it turned out, to search for the colony he had left three years before, he had with him six other men who had been to Roanoke before.

There isn’t time for me to go into much detail concerning the information I found of a more or less personal nature concerning the 278 colonists and explorers. In a large number of cases, however, I was able to find in parish registers such information as dates of christenings, marriages, and burials for persons of the same names and at about the right time, but as yet I cannot say that I have actually identified them as Roanokers. The Lost Colonists, I suspect, are of more general interest so I will try to include more of them in my examples which follow in rough alphabetical order.

Marke Bennet and William Berde both Lost Colonists, are described in contemporary records as a husbandman⁹ and a yoeman,¹⁰ respectively. Richard Berry, a member of the same group, was described as a “gentleman” and was a muster captain in 1572.¹¹

Logically enough among Lane’s men who stayed a year there was a shoemaker—John Brocke.¹² Francis Brooke, treasurer of the 1585 expedition, seems later to have been a naval captain who commanded several privateer vessels.¹³ And John Fever was a basket-maker¹⁴—a useful occupation in the colony, no doubt, with corn to be carried and fish weirs to be made.

William Brown is a common name, but one of that name was a London goldsmith prior to 1587 when the name appears on the roll of the Lost Colony.¹⁵ Anthony Cage, another 1587 colonist, had been sheriff of Huntington in 1585.¹⁶ Two other Lost Colonists, James Hynde and William Clement, according to contemporary manuscripts now in the Essex Records Office,¹⁷ had been in prison together in Colchester Castle near London, a general jail, for stealing. Perhaps to be described as “at the other end of the ladder,” was Thomas Ellis, of the Lost Colony, also. Before leaving his home in Exeter he had been a member of the vestry of his parish church, St. Petrock, which still stands on the main business street of Exeter.¹⁸

Henry Greene, a member of the very first expedition, the one headed by Amadas and Barlowe, was a graduate of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and it has been suggested that he is of the same family as the ancestors of General Nathanael Greene of Revolutionary War, and especially Guilford Court House, fame.¹⁹

One of Lane’s men, Rowland Griffin, was convicted and sent to prison in 1594 for robbery.²⁰ On the other hand, John Harris, a member of the same expedition, was knighted in 1603 at the coronation of James I.²¹

There seem to have been at least two college professors among the Roanokers. Thomas Luddington, one of Lane’s men, was a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford (and, incidentally, afterwards Preacher to the City of Lincoln)²² while Thomas Harris, a Lost Colonist, was a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from 1579 to 1586. He held the master’s degree from the same college.²³

Thomas Hewet may have been the Lost Colonists’ lawyer. At any rate he held the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford.²⁴ Robert Holecroft, “of Westminster, co. Middlesex, gentleman,” may have held a similar post in Lane’s colony. He later appeared in court representing several Thames watermen, as dock and river workers were called.²⁵

It is also possible that one of Lane’s men did a bit of recruiting for his alma mater. Both William White and Richard Wildye were graduates of Brasenose College, Oxford, and we find that young Thomas Hulme, a member of the same expedition, entered the same college the year following his return home. Hulme later studied law. Another young man in the same group, Richard Ireland, entered Christ Church, Oxford, two years later and eventually was Headmaster of Westminster School.²⁶

There probably was some reason for Lane to bring along a customs official, but off hand I haven’t discovered it. Anyway, Christopher Marshall is described as “one of the Waiters in the port of London,” and Waiter in those days meant customs official.²⁷

Lost Colonist William Nicholes may have been a tailor. A “clothworker” of that name was married in London in 1580 and in 1590 we find the grant of a license to someone else “to occupy the trade of a clothier during the minority of George Nicholles, son of Wm. Nicholles.”²⁸

George Raymond, who came over in 1585, was a captain in the Royal Navy at the time of the Spanish Armada threat. In 1591 when he sailed on an expedition to the West Indies he was described as a “gentleman captain and privateer promoter.”²⁹

Anthony Rowse, another member of Lane’s expedition, had been a member of Parliament the previous year and afterwards was sheriff of Cornwall for several years. He was knighted in 1603 and, at the death of Drake, was executor of his estate.³⁰ Here again another extreme may be cited. Richard Sare, of the same expedition, is described in contemporary records simply as a laborer.³¹ (I have my own personal opinion as to which man was more valuable in the wilds of the New World.)

John Spendlove, later a Lost Colonist, was described on a 1585 muster list as a “gentleman” and reported present with his horse.³²

John Stukely who came over in 1585 was Grenville’s brother-in-law and the father of Sir Lewis Stukely who had an ugly part in the final downfall and death of Sir Walter Raleigh.³³

John Twyt, one of Lane’s men, appears as a London apothecary in 1580.³⁴

Both Benjamin and John Wood who came in 1584 with Amadas and Barlowe later enjoyed high positions. Benjamin had an interesting career at sea and was a noted navigator and captain. He has a place in the annals of British naval history for his attempt to reach China. He is known to have arrived at the Malay Peninsula but was later lost at sea.³⁵ John had already been a muster captain and after returning home became one of the “Jurates” of the town and port of Sandwich. He was knighted in 1603 at the coronation of James I.³⁶

Several of the Roanokers are “famous” enough to be recorded in standard biographical works, especially the Dictionary of American Biography and the Dictionary of National Biography. Amadas and Barlowe are examples of this and we need not make further mention of them.

Thomas Cavendish is nearly always given special mention in accounts of the Roanoke colonists and it is generally implied that he is famous and widely known. Perhaps so, but I had to “read up” on him to get the facts. His chief claim to fame is based on the fact that he sailed around the world in 1586, the year after he visited Roanoke. For Grenville’s voyage to Roanoke in 1585 he supplied and commanded a ship, perhaps as a sort of training period for his circumnavigation. In 1591 he sailed again on what was to have been a second voyage around the world, but he died at sea in June of the following year.³⁷

Marmaduke Constable, a member of Lane’s expedition of 1585-1586, might be said to have been famous on a local scale. I cite him here merely as an example, of which there are others, of representatives of prominent families who came to Roanoke. Marmaduke entered Caius College, Cambridge, in 1581, so he must have joined Lane when he was fresh out of college. He is described as a “gentleman” and eventually succeeded his father as local squire, married a neighbor’s daughter, and left descendants who still live at the same place. Our Marmaduke is buried in York Minster, one of the “must” cathedrals on all lists for tourists of England to visit.³⁸

Next in alphabetical order comes Sir Francis Drake. He, too, is well known and is still one of England’s greatest heroes. His home is now a museum and his famous drum, on display there, is said to be heard at any time when England is in danger. The famous bowl with which he is said to have been playing on the Hoe at Plymouth when the Spanish Armada approached is also there. Incidentally, his home, Buckland Abbey near Plymouth, had earlier belonged to the Grenville family and it is believed to have been the birthplace of Sir Richard.³⁹

Edward Gorges was a cousin of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Lord Proprietor of the Colony of Maine, and his mother and Sir Walter Raleigh were first cousins. Edward was a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, and came to Roanoke in 1585 with Grenville. He later was employed by Queen Elizabeth as a personal messenger to Henry IV of France, and he was knighted by her successor, James I. He is buried in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, not far from Sir Walter Raleigh.⁴⁰

Thomas Hariot, mathematician and astronomer, is too well known for his scientific report on the newfound land of Virginia to require further identification. It is worth noting, however, that a mathematical study of his embodies inventions which gave algebra its modern form and that he used telescopes simultaneously with Galileo. Dean John W. Shirley of State College is writing a biography of Hariot which undoubtedly will contain much to delight and surprise all who are interested in this period of history.

Sir Richard Grenville, another famous Englishman who is remembered for a brilliant career at sea, was also a member of Parliament before visiting Roanoke. He and Raleigh were cousins, and like Cavendish he died at sea.

Abraham Kendall, who remained a year with Lane’s colony, was a veteran navigator and renowned mathematician. He commanded a ship in 1578 in Frobisher’s fleet, and 1594-1595 was in the West Indies. Several recent studies have been made of his contributions to navigation and now, as in his lifetime, he is “extolled for his mathematical skill.” Sir Robert Dudley, for whom Kendall once worked, considered him one of the most expert mariners produced by England. He is buried in Central America.⁴¹

Ralph Lane has been frequently “written up” but is still not clearly understood. His temper seems to have been the cause of his near-downfall on more than one occasion, and it appears that he was not able to get along with his fellow-men. He is believed to have served in Parliament in 1558 and again in 1562. It is definitely known that he was sheriff of Kerry in Ireland just prior to sailing with Grenville and that he was knighted in 1593. He was occupied with various military and naval assignments throughout most of his adult life. In 1603 he died in Dublin where he is buried.⁴²

Jacob Whiddon, who was with Grenville in 1585 when he brought over Ralph Lane and his colony, was a trusted servant and follower of Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh spoke of him as “a man most valiant and honest.” Whiddon was sent out by Raleigh to explore the Orinoco River and he was with Raleigh on his voyage to South America in 1595. He died and was buried on the Island of Trinidad in the West Indies.⁴³

David Williams, who remained a year with Lane’s colony, was a young Welsh lawyer recently called to the bar and later an outstanding London lawyer and judge. He served in Parliament for one year immediately prior to coming over and for three more years after he returned. In 1603 he was knighted.⁴⁴

I have my doubts about the identification of John Jones of the Lost Colony with Dr. John Jones, an outstanding Welsh physician, but I’d like to tell you one point in favor of it. The Welshman was a most prolific writer of medical books but his last known place of residence was in 1573 although he published a book in 1579. Might not such an intellectually curious physician have been anxious to visit the New World?⁴⁵

Now, before approaching the Lost Colonists as individuals, let’s consider some figures concerning them. There were eighty single men (or at least men without wives along). There were eleven families consisting of husband and wife alone and two families with one child each. There were apparently four men who brought their sons, or perhaps they were younger brothers. There were six single women and three children with no apparent relatives among the other colonists. Incidentally, all the children were boys and, judging from a remark made by John White, one of the children with his mother was so young that he was still nursing at her breast.⁴⁶ Two children were born in August, 1587, after the colonists reached Roanoke—Virginia Dare and a Harvey child.

I think it shows remarkable courage or else extreme ignorance and indifference that such a group should have done what they did. Imagine sailing on a ship of 120 tons or less (the “Queen Elizabeth” today is 83,000 tons) with nine children, at least one of whom was an infant, and two pregnant women. The voyage lasted just ten days short of three months.

There’s probably nothing to be gained from trying to guess why these people came over. I’ve found evidence that many of them, not only among the Lost Colonists but among the other colonists and explorers, were apparently related by marriage. Some were undoubtedly friends or acquaintances because they were near neighbors. Edward Kelly and Thomas Wise, for instance, both members of Lane’s colony, lived about 2 1/2 miles from each other in Devon.⁴⁷ Some were employed by the same person—Atkinson, Fernandez, and Russell, for example, are all spoken of as being in the service of Sir Francis Walsingham.⁴⁸ Four others are known to have served in the same military unit, and, as previously cited, two were in jail together. Quinn sets forth a number of them who were from London, particularly a group working on the Thames River.

The single women who came with the Lost Colony, however, pose something of a problem. Two women have surnames almost identical with those of two of the single men and I suspect that they actually were husbands and wives with the discrepancy in spelling explained by the fact that names were often spelled in various ways, as I have already suggested. Audrey T-a-p-p-a-n and Thomas T-o-p-a-n, and Joan Warren and Thomas Warner, they are. As further evidence in the latter case I have found that one Thomas Warner married a Johanna Barnes in 1584 and that he was a mariner.⁴⁹ A certain controversial event in North Carolina history rests on slimmer documentary evidence than this!

Let’s look at some of the other and more obviously single women, however.

Agnes Wood. In 1549 one Robert Woode of St. Bride’s Church, London, to which at least one other member of the colony also belonged, married Johanna Toppam. Was our Agnes their daughter and therefore related to the Tappans?⁵⁰ Or was she perhaps the Agnes Traver who married John Wood in London in 1577?⁵¹ John Wood had come to Roanoke in 1584. There may have been some reason for his wife to come.

Jane Pierce. In Ireland Henry Piers, who died in 1623, had been married to Jane Jones.⁵² Could Jane Pierce have been their daughter and related to Griffin, Jane, and John Jones who were also among the Lost Colonists? Another interesting possibility also exists. In 1568 one Jone Pierse, a Portuguese, registered as an alien in London. She was the sister of Simon and Fornando and a tenant of Frauncis White’s.⁵³ Simon, Fornando, and White all sound familiar when spoken in connection with the Roanokers.

Jane Mannering. All I can find is that Jane was a common given name in the Mainwaring family of Peover and Newton and that the grandmother of Humfrey Newton, another of the Lost Colonists, was named Katherine Mainwaring.⁵⁴ Were Jane and Humfrey related?

As to the other single women I haven’t even a far-fetched clue. Maybe they were looking for husbands either among their unmarried fellow-colonists or perhaps they already had husbands among the 15 to 18 men left at Roanoke by Grenville the year before and they were coming to join them.

Why would there have been three boys with no apparent relatives among the Lost Colonists? I have two clues and a guess.

Thomas Humfrey. There was a Richard Humfrey among Lane’s colonists who stayed a year. Perhaps young Thomas was his son or brother who liked what he heard from the earlier colonist.

Thomas Smart. There had been a colonist with the very same name with Lane. The obvious conclusion is to say that this boy was his son. But why did he come? Did he think his father might still be here?

William Wythers. There were two members of the Taylor family among the Lost Colonists and two others had been here with Lane. One of the latter returned in 1590 with White. In 1592 in London one Robert Taylor married Elizabeth Wythers.⁵⁵ There may have been some prior connection or at least acquaintance among the members of the two families.

We have always been disappointed, of course, that John White was unable to prolong his search for the Lost Colony when he returned in 1590. This feeling becomes even stronger when we realize that he had with him three men whose surnames were the same as members of the Lost Colony. There must have been real grief in their hearts when they had to turn away with doubt still clouding their minds. Robert Coleman was with White and among the colonists were Thomas Colman and his wife; Henry Millett undoubtedly hoped to find Michael Myllet; and John Taylor, who surely knew the country well from his stay of a year with Lane, must have been deeply moved to have to turn away without finding Clement and Hugh Taylor, and perhaps the boy, William Wythers, who might also have been a relative.

If we had relatives at a lonely outpost, say near the South Pole, and the sending of supplies to them depended upon the speedy defeat of an enemy who threatened to invade our shores, I dare say we’d buy War Bonds till our last penny was gone. In England there survives a list of persons who subscribed towards the defense of the country at the time of the threatened attack by the Spanish Armada.⁵⁶ I have checked this list against the list of family names among the Roanokers and believe I have come across some interesting evidence.

Thirty-eight men and one woman with the same family names as the colonists contributed from £25 to £100 each. This represents an enormous sum of money. Of these names only nine were represented among the colonists and explorers before 1587. But twenty-nine contributors had the same family names as Lost Colonists and fifteen had the very same first name as well, making me think that in these fifteen cases, at least, it was the father of a colonist who contributed so generously.

After working with the names of these early colonists for several years I’ve begun to imagine what some of them looked like. There are portraits or engravings of Raleigh, Drake, Cavendish, Grenville, and perhaps a few of the others who are fairly well known. I also discovered that portraits of Edward Gorges and David Williams exist and that a portrait at Trinity College, Oxford, may be of Thomas Hariot.⁵⁷

One phase of my study which I have yet had only an opportunity to think about is to consider any possible relationships which may have existed between the Roanokers and the settlers at Jamestown twenty years or so later. One instance of a possibility, I will cite, however. John Pory, secretary of the Virginia colony, came down into what is now Gates County in 1622. I had often wondered just why he made the journey and I have now discovered that his sister was married to a man named Ellis and that Thomas and Robert Ellis, the latter a boy, were among the Lost Colonists. I’d like to establish that a relationship existed between the various Ellises concerned.

Finally, I think my most exciting find was that Virginia Dare had a brother—at least a half-brother. His name was John Dare. He was an illegitimate son of Ananias Dare and the name of his mother appears not to be recorded. He was, nevertheless, acknowledged by his father and bore the name Dare. Under English law, an unaccounted for absence of seven years is necessary for a ruling of presumed death. A relative of young John Dare’s, therefore, in 1594 petitioned that John be given his father’s property. Ananias, the records show, was a member of St. Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London, which still exists, near and almost in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral. In 1597 young Dare’s petition was granted. At that time it is obvious that he was over ten years of age.⁵⁸ I attempted to leave no stone unturned to trace him, but the only John Dare I could find was one mentioned in a manuscript of 1622 in the Essex Records Office relating to one John Dare who then was a surveyor. If this was Ananias’s son, at that time he would have been around 36 years of age. A nineteenth-century Dare family lived in Essex but the records of it now in the county archives threw no light on my problem.

As I have intimated, my research is not completed and many of my decisions are tentative. I intend to continue searching for the answers to the many questions which have been asked for a long time about the Roanoke colonists and explorers.

Footnotes