Gabriel Archer
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Gabriel Archer was an early English explorer of
Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...
,
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...
, and
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. A settler of
Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
, he clashed with the leadership council and John Smith repeatedly before dying in the winter of 1609-1610. The
Jamestown Rediscovery Jamestown Rediscovery is an archaeological project of Preservation Virginia (formerly the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) investigating the remains of the original English settlement at Jamestown established in the Virg ...
Project, among other scholars, considers the possibility that Gabriel Archer may have been a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, based on how he was buried.


Early life

Gabriel Archer was born to Christopher and Mary Archer of
Mountnessing Mountnessing is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated to the north-east of Brentwood and south-west of Ingatestone. A large proportion of the houses are situated on the Roman Road between ...
,
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in either 1574 or 1575. He graduated from
St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...
in 1591.


Cape Cod

Gabriel Archer also explored Cape Cod under an expedition which was headed by
Bartholomew Gosnold Bartholomew Gosnold ( – ) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod. He is co ...
. His account of this expedition was later published after his death by
Samuel Purchas Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries. Career Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex, son of a yeoman. He graduated from St J ...
under the title "The Relation of Captaine Gosnols Voyage to the North Part of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
." The title reflects the fact that the term
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
was not consistently used to refer to Massachusetts and its environs at that time. The voyage departed on March 26, 1602, before arriving at the coast on May 14. The expedition consequently explored both Cape Cod, but also Martha's Vineyard, which George R. Stewart conjectures that Archer himself named, as Gosnold had a daughter named Martha and there were many Grape-vine, grapevines in the area. Martha's Vineyard initially designated a smaller island, before the name was shifted to the larger island referred to as Martha's Vineyard to this day. Archer also recorded and most likely coined many other names from that voyage that are not still used in the present day, including Tucker's Terror and Hill's Hap. His records contain a description of most of the important events of the voyage, including finding and naming Cape Cod. During the course of the expedition, Archer engaged in trade with the local Wampanoag tribe and helped build a trading post at Cuttyhunk Island. However, the trading post was abandoned when Archer and the rest of the expedition returned to England.


Jamestown

Archer entered
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...
in an expedition in early 1607 to aid in setting up the Virginia colony. On April 26, some of the local Native Americans attacked, and Archer sustained some wounds to his hands. Later on, in the James River, Archer sighted what he thought to be a promising site for settlement, which afterwards was known as Archer's Hope (near College Creek). However, a separate site which Christopher Newport preferred was picked, which ended up becoming Jamestown. Newport then led an expedition that charted the James River until present-day Richmond, Virginia. While on that journey, Archer most likely kept a log of what they saw, and bestowed more names upon the land, though many were changed and few survived. Archer then gained a position as secretary and recorder for Jamestown. However, he was not on the governing council at that time, despite his position. Archer then aided in the trial of Edward Maria Wingfield, the first president of the colony, who was convicted for a string of minor charges after a shift in opinion against him because of a lack of food and great disease within the colony. Not long after the trial, John Smith had been captured by the Powhatan tribe. Smith was released, but two of his men had been killed on that mission. Archer held Smith responsible and subsequently put him on trial. Archer called for the death penalty, citing Leviticus in support of why Smith should be hanged. However, Smith was not hanged, because Christopher Newport arrived with supplies that he had brought back from England, and convinced the colonists to let Smith go free. Archer then accompanied Newport on his voyage back to England, along with his enemy Wingfield. In England, Archer reported to the Virginia Company about Jamestown, including by recommending the possibility of growing sugar there, or Pineapple, pineapples, though he did also mention the possibility of profitably exporting tobacco. Archer's return, however, was a tempestuous voyage, including a hurricane that severely damaged the ''Blessing'', the ship that he was on, and left some of the other ships broken or stranded. When Archer returned, Smith was president of Jamestown. The ships that were returning from England were supposed to convey that Thomas Gates (governor), Thomas Gates was the president of Jamestown colony, but the necessary documentation was not in the ships that successfully arrived at Jamestown. Smith finished out his term, but agreed that the arrivals from England could take over once it was finished. Subsequently, an explosion injured Smith, and so he set sail back for England. Archer and Smith still had great enmity for one another. During the Starving Time, Archer died in either 1609 or 1610 and was buried in a coffin. His grave was later located near a Jamestown church by the Jamestown Rediscovery Project. The grave was identified because he was a high-ranking leader who was at the age range of the skeleton, and through a comparison of his teeth and lead levels. A possible reliquary was found buried alongside him.


Catholicism

After Archer's grave was discovered in 2015, some of the archaeologists who had found it came up with a theory that Archer was secretly a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, based on the manner of his burial. Almost all the Jamestown settlers were known to be Anglicanism, Anglican, and one of the motives for establishing Jamestown itself as a colony was to ensure that the Anglican Church would have a foothold in the New World, which up until that point had been dominated primarily by Catholic countries such as Spain. Archer's parents were at some point fined for not attending Anglican services because they were Catholic. In addition, Archer was buried facing east, which was then generally only the burial orientation of ministers so they could see their churchgoers on the Resurrection of the dead, Resurrection. Archer had also attended Cambridge, which was known at that time, according to James Horn of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, to be a university with some Catholic presence. The piece of evidence that initially started the theory that Gabriel Archer was a Catholic, however, was a small silver box that was buried next to him. It is believed to be a Catholic reliquary that contains fragments of bones and a lead ampulla. Horn reports that the box was probably intentionally placed in the grave with him, presumably by one of Archer's fellow Catholics. However, the reliquary is not necessarily conclusive evidence, because at this time the Church of England was still shifting away from Catholic symbolism and Catholic practices were being repurposed for Anglican use. If Archer were a Catholic, James Horn and others have mentioned that that could provide a reason for his animosity with some of the top colonial leaders. Before this, some Rosary, rosaries and Crucifix, crucifixes had been found at Jamestown, but there was no evidence that they came from Catholic settlers specifically.


References


External links


Captain Gabriel Archer burial 3D digitization
at Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Gabriel People from colonial Virginia People from Jamestown, Virginia English explorers of North America 1570s births Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1609 deaths People from Essex Emigrants from the Kingdom of England to the Thirteen Colonies