34. Thomas BENNETT ^{1, 2, 3, 4} (John , Thomas "of Clapcot" , John , Thomas , Thomas ) was born in Jun 1580 in London, Berkshire, England. He died about 1641 in James City, Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

Notes for THOMAS BENNETT:
Thomas Bennett was a Member of the House of Burgesses as he represented Mulberry Island in 1632 (Burgess Journals 1619-59, p. xiii). Mulberry Island is in Warwick County, and as Warwick's records were destroyed in the Civil War, nothing more can be found out about Thomas Bennett. However, a clue to his family is found in the will of Anthony Barham, the former Burgess of Mulberry Island who died in England in 1641.

Source:
Boddie, 17th Century Isle of Wight Co., Vol 1 pp 290-291 as made available thru Michael D. Bennett's website.

Thomas arrived in 1618 on the ship "NEPTUNE" and settled near Edward's Plantation.
- Source New World Immigrants "The Muster of Thomas Bennett'
Passengers and Immigrants Lists Index. Edited by P. William Filby with Mary K. Meyer.

No birth record is known. He was most probably born in England. He is believe to have immigrated to Virginia in 1618.
There are two Thomas Bennett's along the James River in 1624, the headrights of Thomas were claimed by Richard Bennett, the nephew of Edward Bennett a member of the original London Company that founded the Virginia settlement. The 1624 muster roll identifies two Thomas Bennett's one with wife Mary and the other with wife Margery.
Thomas Bennett resided near Lawne's Creek on the South side of theJames River in 1624. He was a plantation owner. Member of the House of Burgesses representing Mulberry island in 1632.
He is believed to had had only one son, Richard Bennett.
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Thomas Bennett was most probably born in England and may have been a relation of the Edward Bennett family and Henry Bennett, Lord Arlington.
Edward Bennett was a member of the original London Company that founded the Virginia colony. He was a wealthy shipper engaged in the Virginia trade and elsewhere. He is reputed to have been captured by a Dutch pirate on one voyage and negotiated a pardon for the pirate from the King of England in return for which the pirate gave him 64 ships. He also held contracts for shipping supplies for the British Army.
Richard and Robert Bennett were nephews of Edward Bennett who came to Virginia and established two large plantations on his behalf in Isleof Wight County. There were also two early Thomas Bennett's who were associated in early records with Richard in Isle of Wight County, in1624, the headrights of both were claimed by Richard Bennett. However, their relationship to Edward, Richard or Robert is unknown. Richard Bennett later became governor of Virginia during the Cromwellian period.
Later in this period, Henry Bennett, Lord Arlington, was a close advisor to Charles I King of England. He was a member of the same Bennett family possibly owed its economic advantage to kinship with them.

Acquiring Virginia Land By "Headright"

The Europeans who settled first at Jamestown were employees of the Virginia Company, whose stockholders controlled all the English claims to land in the colony. Once the English recognized that the colony's value was based on tobacco, and tobacco required large tracts of land, the company began encouraging immigration by promising private control of some land to settlers.

Starting in 1618 and lasting through the 17th Century (and technically until cancelled by the General Assembly in 1779), the "headrights" system authorized the grant of 50 acres for every individual brought to Virginia.¹ The colony had an excess of land and a shortage of people, so it was public policy to encourage population growth through immigration and to induce immogration through promises of cheap land.

(This policy was not limited to the colonial era - the United States passed the Homestead Act in 1864. It provided free land to encourage immigration to the unsettled western lands. The Homestead Law was finally repealed in 1976, with passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.)

 

The headrights system encouraged wealthy individuals to pay to transport indentured servants to Virginia. In theory, the servants would work 5-7 years clearing new land and moving the edge of English settlement further west into the North American continent. The indentured servants did not acquire title to land through their work during their term of service, if someone else had paid for their passage and claimed the headright.

At the end of their term of indenture, the servants were released from their obligations of service, given some basic clothing and equipment, and expected to move to the unsettled frontier. They could purchase unimproved land there, "improve" it by cutting down the trees and preparing fields suitable for growing crops such as corn and tobacco. As the forested frontier was converted into farms, indentured servants were transformed into landowners who could provide their children a better opportunity at gaining wealth.
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Bibliography

Seventeenth Century, Isle of Wight County, Virginia; by John BennettBoddie, Chicago Law Printing Company, Chicago;

Southside Virginia Families, Volume I, by John Bennet Boddie, PacificCoast Publishers, Redwood City, California, 1955.

Wills and Administrations of Surry County, Virginia, 1671-1750; by ElizaTimberlake Davis, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland,1980.

Selected portions of Bennett Family information were contributed by
Patrick J. Anderson and Frankie Krausse

Bennett Sources include:

Bennetts on the Bias. written by Muriel Minimum
Seventeeth Century, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. written by John Bennett Boddie.
Southside Virginia Families. Volume I. written by John Bennett Boddie.
Broderbund Family Archive #110. Volume 2.

Thomas married Alice PIERCE about 1624 in James City, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Alice was born about 1600 in England. She died about 1647 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

Alice's maiden name is unknown. She married Thomas Pierce before Thomas Bennett. She was a young widow when she married Thomas Bennett.

Notes for ALICE PIERCE:
Pierce was not her birth name, but was her former married name. "Thomas Pierse was slain at the Indian Masssacre of March 26, 1721/22 at Martin's Hundred. Records show that Thomas Peerce and "his wife and childe" were all killed, however many of the women and children were not killed but held captive by the Indians. The colonist retaliated by destroying the Indian's crops and causing much suffering for both the Indians and their hostages. Hostages were later released in exchange for assurance that the Indians could plant their next year's crops in peace. Later records prove that Alice Pierse, widow, who married Thomas Bennett was the widow of Thomas Pierse of Virginia, 'Sargent at Armes of America's First Constitutional Convention and First Legislative Assembly in 1610.' In the General Court of October 1624, Elizabeth Pierce, probably the 'childe' reported killed, chose her step-father, Thomas Bennett, to be her guardian. Elizabeth had been engaged to John Filmer who died leaving all his property to her. Elizabeth Pierce later married 1) Anthony Barham and 2) Richard Jackson."

Source:
Vaughn Ballard, Solomon Mangham: Ancestors & Descendants (1989, Family Hists)

On October the 4th, 1624, Alice Bennett was a witness before the General Court at the trial of John Proctor for cruelty to his servants. She was sworn and examined as to the beating of Elizabeth Abbott, serving maid of Mr. Proctors', and stated that she "found her by the waterside by Mr. Burrow's plantation lying behind a boat wrapped in a rug *** whereupon this examinat, with Her Husband, and Richard Richards carryed her and and delivered her to her master." (Va. Mag., 19, p. 389)
"Richard Grove, servant of Mr. Proctor sayeth that the said wench often times ran away and that she was corrected for it, but that she never received over 20 or 30 lashes, etc., that when Mr. Richards and Mr. Thomas Bennett brought her home last she received no correction, but when they two and the Wife of Mr. Thomas Bennett brought her home last she had received correction from William Moyle, servant of Mr. Proctors."

The above testimony seems to prove that Alice Bennett was the wife of Thomas Bennett. Several othe witnesses testified at this trial and among them was John Burroughs by whose plantation on the waterside Alice Bennett and her husband had found Elizabeth Abbott. John Burroughs was living at Jamestown in 1625 but had a plantation called "Burrow's Hill" on the south side of the James in James City Co., now Surry. James City's records were destroyed in the Civil War.
At the same court Anthony Barham swore that "he saw Mr. Proctor strike Elias Hinton one of his servants." In 1626 Anthony Barham had a patent of 100 acres next to Capt. Nathaniel Basse's on the James River in Isle of Wight, (V.M., 7, p. 218) In March, 1629-1630 he was a member of the House of Burgesses from Mulberry Island across the James from Basse's Choice. He came to Virginia with Capt. Basse on the Abagail in 1621. His wife, Elizabeth came on the "William and Thomas" in 1618.
It seems that Thomas Bennett's wife, Alice was formerly the widow of one Pierce, for at that same General Court in October, 1624, "Elizabeth Pierce chose her father-in-law (step-father), Thomas Bennett, as her guardian." (V.M., 20, p. 155) She was unmarried then because John Filmer to whom she was engaged had just died, and left all his property to her. This was the reason for her choosing a guardian. It is probable that this Elizabeth Pierce afterwards married Anthony Barham.

Source:
Boddie, 17th Century Isle of Wight Co., Vol 1 pg 289-290, Michael D. Bennett.

(See record for Anthony Barham) Alice Bennett, seemingly the "Mother Bennett" of Anthony Barham's will, in 1641 was residing in the vicinity of Lawne's Creek, for on June 10, 1642, George Hardy received a grant of 300 acres upon the eastermost side of Lawne's Creek adjacent to Alice Bennett. Jone 19, 1642, one John Stocker patented 200 acres adjoining Mr. Hardy's land and the widow Bennett.

She bought 150 acres from her neighbor, Justinian Cooper the 2nd of April 1644 for a cow and a calf and a barrell of corn. Justinian Cooper had previously patented 1050 acres in 1636 lying at the head of Lawne's Creek.
Alice Bennett, sometime after purchasing the above mentioned 150 acres from Justinian Cooper, deeded the same to her grandaughters Sarah and Mary Jackson. They were probably very young at the time as she seems to have married Thomas Bennett about 1624. Her grandaughters were married by 1666.

Source:
Boddie, 17th Century Isle of Wight Co., Vol 1 pg 293, Michael D. Bennett.

Thomas and Alice had the following children:

 51FiAlice BENNETT was born about 1613 in Bedfordshire, England. She died in Jun 1677 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.    Alice married John HARDY. John was born about 1613 in Bedfordshire, England. He died in Jun 1677 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  52MiiJohn BENNETT was born on Jul 10 1624. He died before 1714. +53MiiiRichard BENNETT was born about 1625 and died about 1709. 54MivPhilip BENNETT was born on Mar 6 1626. He died before 1717. +55FvMary Pierce BENNETT was born about 1627 and died after 1648.

Chief among the Puritans who were among the first to settle in Isle of Wight County was Edward Bennett, former elder of the Ancient Church at Amsterdam, son of Robert Bennett, a tanner of Wivelscombe, Somerset. He was christened in the Parish Church of Wivelscombe in 1577/78 being the fifteenth and last child in the family. Bennett married into the Bourne family of Somerset and is often described in the records as being a wealthy London merchant. [http://www.geocities.com/knighthistory/Jamestown-Bennett.html]

 

 

The Puritans migrated from Isle of Wight to Nansemond under the leadership of Richard Bennett, the nephew of Edward, and their subsequent migration to Maryland where many settled in Anne Arundel County.

 

 

Governor Richard Bennett Christened: 6 Aug 1609 - Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England Married: 1638 - Mary Ann Utie Died: 12 Apr 1675 - , Nansemond, Virginia

 

RICHARD BENNETT - was elected Governor of the VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLEY 30 March 1652 and was re-elected three successive terms. He was then sent as Commissioner to England by the House of Burgesses. Returning to Virginia in 1658 he was re-elected to the Counsel each year until his death. From 1662 he was Major General of the Virginia Forces. His descendents include General ROBERT E. LEE. source - Willey, Core, Bennett and Other Ancestors by Leroy Ellis Willie & Ted D. Jones

 

In England, King Charles-I and his Army was defeated at Marston Moor in 1644. The population of the Virginia Colony in 1648 was estimated to be about 15,000 English and 300 Negroes. The trial and beheading of King Charles-I was in 1649, and Virginia remained loyal to the crown. Articles of surrender in 1652 to the Commonwealth of England was agreed to by the House of Burgesses. The same year, Richard Bennett was elected Governor by the General Assembly replacing William Berkeley. Oliver Cromwell ignored Virginia and self-government went serenely on in '53, and Westmoreland County was created out of Northumberland County.

 

1650 - This patent was in the yeare 1650 assigned by Richard Bennett to John Ward and by Jo: Ward teh same yeare assigned to Henry Foxx and by Ffox afterwards assigned to Roberts Robins and by him included in a grant to himself and Robert Hanley of 550 acres made and passed under seale 10 Junis 1651.

 

In 1652, William Coulbourne and Richard Bennett (a Puritan from Nansemond County, Virginia) were appointed Parliamentary Commissioners over both Virginia and Maryland by the new Commonwealth of England Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Maryland, not surprisingly, remained steadfastly Royalist, but for once she and Virginia were on the same side of the fence, as Virginia, too, continued to favor the monarchy (a considerable number of Royalists having removed to that Colony during the Civil War). Clayborne moved swiftly, and on the 5th of April 1652, a petition was signed by residents of the Isle of Kent 5th April 1652: promising to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, without King or House of Lords. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/md/state/isleofkent.html

 

 

 

From the Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson Papers

 

 

 CCCLXVIII. Robert Bennett. A Letter To Edward Bennett

June 9, 1623

Loving Brother

From the text printed in the American Historical Review, XXVII, pp. 505-508.

 

On November 21, 1621, Edward Bennett, a rich merchant of London, was granted a patent for a plantation upon the condition of settling two hundred emigrants. Associated with him in that patent were his brother, Robert Bennett, and his nephew, Richard Bennett, Thomas Ayres, Thomas Wiseman and Richard Wiseman; and in February, 1622, the "Sea Flower" arrived with one hundred and twenty settlers, under command of Captain Ralph Hamor, one of the Council. Among them were Rev. William Bennett and George Harrison, kinsmen of Edward Bennett. Their place of settlement was called Warrosquoyacke, or sometimes "Edward Bennett's Plantation," and was located at the place on James River known as the "Rocks," the estate of the late Dr. John W. Lawson, who for many years represented this county in the General Assembly of the State, the Second Congressional District in Congress, and this county in the late Constitutional Convention.

 

On the day the patent last mentioned was granted, Arthur Swaine, Captain Nathaniel Basse and others, undertook to establish another plantation in the same neighborhood. Captain Basse came over in person and his plantation was known as "Basse's Choice," and was situated on Warrosquoyacke (now Pagan) River. The houses of Captain Basse's Plantation were building when a great calamity happened to the infant colony. At midday on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, there were twelve hundred and forty inhabitants in the State of Virginia. Of these, three hundred and forty-seven, in a few hours, were killed by the Indians in the eighty settlements on the north and south sides of the James River, of which number fifty-three were residents of this county.

http://tdcweb.com/tdfhs/histories/islewight/islewight2.htm

 

The census of 1623-24 (February) showed as then living at "Worwicke-Squeak" and "Basse's Choice" fifty-three persons, "twenty-six having died since April last." Among those who had died were Mr. Robert Bennett, the brother of Edward Bennett, the rich London merchant, and first minister, Mr. William Bennett, doubtless one of the same family. http://tdcweb.com/tdfhs/histories/islewight/islewight3.htm

 

 

Thomas Bennett was an immigrant from England. He is claimed in 1635 as a head right by Richard Bennett who later became the governor of the Virginia Colony in the 1650's. The 1624 muster roll of the Virginia Colony identifies two Thomas Bennett's one with wife Mary and the other with wife Margery. One of these was the mother of Thomas' son Richard Bennett. Thomas Bennett resided near Lawne's Creek on the South side of the James River in 1624. He was a member of the House of Burgesses representing Mulberry Island in 1632.

 

The second wife of Thomas Bennett was Alice Pierce, widow of Thomas Pierce. Thomas Pierce was the Sergeant at Arms of the first legislative assembly of Virginia which met on 07/30/1619. He had arrived on the "William and Thomas" which sailed for Virginia in August of 1618. This ship was a "magazine ship", containing supplies for the colony. He apparently traveled with his wife Alice and daughter Elizabeth. Thomas appears to have been a relative of Lt. William Pierce, of the Seaventure (1609), who served under Yeardly, Captain of the Governor's Company of soldiers. Later William Pierce was Lt. Governor in 1629 and a member of the Virginia Council in 1631. His daughter Jane Pierce was the third wife of John Rolfe. Thomas Pierce established the next plantation south of Martin's Hundred along the upper side of the James River. On 03/22/1621/2 the Indians attacked throughout the colony. Thomas Pierce , his wife, child, two other men and a French boy were officially reported as killed at this plantation. Edward Pierce, "Merchantaylor of London" and Ann, his sister, petitioned for administration of his estate on 10/02/1622. However, Alice and her daughter apparently survived the attack, and it is thought they were two of the twenty captives that were ransomed from the Indians. The only other of these twenty who have been identified are Mrs. Boyce and Jane Dickenson, both widows of men slain at Martin's Hundred. These captives were held for 10 months. The colonists, unable to recapture these women by pursuit, destroyed all of the Indian cornfields in retaliation, reducing the Indians and their captives to starvation. Chanco, the Indian convert, who had given the alarm to Jamestown in advance of the Indian attack, negotiated the release of the captives, in return for promises that the Indian fields would not be destroyed and for beads given in trade.

 

By 10/10/1624 Alice had married Thomas Bennett. She was a witness against John Proctor for cruelty to a serving maid named Elizabeth Abbott, on 10/04/1624. Alice's daughter Elizabeth Pierce names her father-in-law Thomas Bennett in a power of attorney filed in 1624. Seventeenth Century, Isle of Wight County, Virginia; by John Bennett Boddie, Chicago Law Printing Company, Chicago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours Out of the John and Frances I received with letters from Edwarde haresse and Robert Bennet out of Spain, the 27th of Maye the shippe arrived heare in saftie God be Thancked, and out of her I received some 19 Buttes of exclent good wynes, 750 jarse of oylle, 16 Barelles of Resones of the Sonne, and 18 Barelles of Ryesse, tooe halfe hoghedes of Allmondes, 3 halfe hoghedes of wheate and one which was staved at seae, 18 hog-hedes of Olives and some 5 ferkenes of butter and one Chesse. Also I received 1 chest and tooe barelles of Candells, with 3 packes of Linen Cloth marked in your marke and tooe dryfattes of Mr. Kinge's. All these goodes came safe and well condisioned to my handes and the beste that i received since I came in to the lande, and I macke noe question but to macke you by God's helpe good profet one them, and your retorne

 

 

Papers of Lord Sackville, No. 6212

Document at Knole Park, Kent

 

From Bennetes Wellcome this 9th of June, 1623