Warrosquoake Shire (with numerous variant spellings, including Warrascoyack, Warrascocke and "Warwick Squeak") was officially formed in 1634 in the

Virginia colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this. It was named for an Algonquian-speaking tribe that was part of the

Powhatan Confederacy Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powha ...

. The county was renamed Isle of Wight County in 1637, after an island in the English Channel.

History

Shortly after the establishment of Jamestown in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling areas adjacent to

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

. The shoreline region of the Warrascoyack River was occupied by the Warraskoyak tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy, under their '' weroance'', Tackinekintaco. In December 1608,

Captain John Smith John Smith ( – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Followin ...

left his page Samuel Collier with Tackinekintaco to learn the language. The main Warraskoyak village was located where present-day

Smithfield, Virginia Smithfield is a town in Isle of Wight County, in the South Hampton Roads subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, United States. The population was 8,533 at the 2020 census. The town is most famous for the curing and production of ...

developed. A satellite village called Mokete was at Pagan Point, and another called Mathomank was on Burwell's Bay, led by a sub-weroance named Sasenticum. The first English plantation in the region, dating to 1618, was that of

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

merchant

Christopher Lawne Christopher Lawne () was an English merchant and Puritan of note, who was among the earliest settlers in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century. Born in Blandford, Dorset, he emigrated on his ship, the ''Marigold'' (or ''Mary Gold'') in Ma ...

. Several other Puritans also settled nearby. Edward Bennett, an English merchant and a free member of the

London Company The Virginia Company of London (sometimes called "London Company") was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. History Origins The territory ...

, was among those who got a land patent and founded his plantation in 1621. He named his plantation ''Warrosquoake'', after the river which the indigenous people called by that name. His plantation suffered high fatalities of colonists in the

Great Massacre of 1622 The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the English Colony of Virginia on March 22, 1621/22 ( O.S./N.S.). The English explorer John Smith, though he was not an eyewitness, wrote in his ''History of Virginia'' that warriors of the Powhatan "cam ...

, losing 53 persons. A total of the 347 colonists were killed that day, as the Powhatan tribes tried to kill and expel the English. The surviving English retreated to a small number of plantations near Jamestown until an expedition was mounted against the Warraskoyak and

Nansemond The Nansemond are the Indigenous people of the Nansemond River, a 20-mile-long tributary of the James River in Virginia. Nansemond people lived in settlements on both sides of the Nansemond River where they fished (with the name "Nansemond" meani ...

peoples. The colony built a fort nearby Bennett's plantation. In reprisals during the following years, they drove off the Native Americans from their villages. A census of settlers at Bennett's plantation on 16 February 1623 showed a total of "33, including 4 negroes", with 20 settlers recorded at nearby Basse's Choice. A year later, a census showed a total population of 31 settlers for the region. Two of Bennett's brothers had managed his plantation and died in the colony, in 1624 and 126. Edward Bennett finally went to Virginia himself for a time, representing his plantation in the 1628

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

, then returned to England. His nephew Richard Bennett came out to manage the plantation, and stayed in the colony. He became a large landowner and eventually governor of the colony. In 1629, the "County of Warascoyack" was represented in the House of Burgeses was represented by Richard Bennett, Captain Nathaniel Basse (who owned Basse's Choice), Thomas Jordan and two others, all Puritans. This was the Puritans' strongest representation in a colony dominated by members of the Anglican Church. By 1634, by order of the King of England,

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, eight

shires of Virginia The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later. As of 2007, five of the eight origina ...

were formed, with a total population of 4,914 settlers. Warrosquoake Shire included 522 persons at the time.Boddie, p. 172 It and

Accomac Shire Accomac Shire was established in the Colony of Virginia by the House of Burgesses in 1634 under the direction of King Charles I. It was one of the original eight shires of Virginia. The shire's name comes from the Native American word "Accawmack". ...

were the only shires given

Native-American Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie ...

names, honoring the friendly tribes nearby. In 1637 the English renamed it Isle of Wight County, after an island of the same name in the English channel between England and France. They also renamed the Warrosquoake river the

Pagan River The Pagan River ( Warrascoyack) is a tributary of the James River located in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The colonial seaport town of Smithfield (and its National Register-listed Smithfield Historic District) sits on the banks of this riv ...

. During the three years when it was officially Warrosquoake Shire, Richard Bennett led the small Puritan community to neighboring Nansemond. They later moved to Maryland when under religious pressure in Virginia. He returned during the Cromwellian period with a Parliamentary Commission to take over from the Royalist government and served as Governor of Virginia. As population increased, land was drawn from Warrosquoake Shire and Isle of Wight County to form many other counties to the immediate southwest, in the region now defined as

Southside Virginia Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period. Dur ...

. The counties of Isle of Wight,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, Greensville and Brunswick were all created within the limits of what had been Warrosquoake Shire.

References

*Boddie, John Bennett (1973). ''Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia'', Genealogical Publishing Company. {{ISBN, 0-8063-0559-2. Virginia shires 1634 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Populated places established in 1634

History

See also

References