The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England's "Maids for Virginia" by Jennifer Potter
The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England's "Maids for Virginia" by Jennifer Potter
England's first permanent settlement in the New World has all but faded from history. Founded, abandoned, re-established, then outgrown, Jamestown's story connects deeply with that of the United States itself. Of the original colony, however, only scraps remain, discovered at excavation sites long trampled by tourists and school groups. The written record is equally patchy, stitched together from partial censuses, court records, and letters. Perhaps least known and appreciated are the women who were an integral part of Jamestown's story.
One group, in particular, stands out. In 1621, nearly fifteen years after Jamestown was established, fifty-six young women boarded ships in England bound for America. Deemed "young and uncorrupt," they ranged in age from fifteen to twenty-eight. Each carried a bride price of 150 pounds of tobacco -- a value set by the Virginia Company, which had funded the voyage. Although they traveled of their own free will and were granted the freedom to choose husbands from the available planters (an admittedly limited selection), they were essentially an investment in future profits. Most knew there would be no going back. Mortality rates in Jamestown were fearsomely high -- six out of seven settlers died within the first few years -- and those who survived continued to face starvation, disease, and the constant threat of violence between colonists and the native populations.
Yet some did survive and their legacy lives on, to date unsung. Now, by means of the Virginia Company's own "sales catalog" for prospective husbands, and other original sources, Jennifer Potter has rescued these young women from obscurity and brought them brilliantly to life, offering as full an account as possible of their origins in England and their experiences in the New World. Whether hapless victims of propaganda or brave adventurers willing to risk everything, the "Jamestown brides" irrevocably altered the history of Jamestown, and here, at last, is their tale.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, HARDCOVER, 1ST EDITION, 1ST PRINTING, 2019.
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.