WILLIAM BARKER & FRANCES WARD - England and Virginia - 1500's and 1600's
15590 & 15591
rin 531 & 532
mrin 135
William BARKER was born in England, I estimate about 1595
Frances WARD was born in England, I estimate about 1599
Daughter of James WARD (p 149) 4
William and Frances were married
before 1623, probably in England
Before 3 Mar 1655 William
had died (p 149) 4
Before 3 Mar 1655
Frances
had married Robert LETHERLAND (p 149) 4
After 1 Mar 1661/2 Frances
married Lt. Col. Thomas DREW (p 150) 4
William was master and captain of the ships AMERICA and YE MERCHANTS HOPE. In all of his land transactions he is referred to as William BARKER, Marriner. Most of his land acquisitions were for transporting colonists to Virginia.
1625 William was in the Virginia Colony as early as 1625 (p 20) 1
1634 Mar 30 William shown as being in possession of 500 acres in Charles City Co, formerly the land of Capt. Nathaniell POWELL. (p 20) 2 [I don't know when or how he acquired this land.]
1635 Jun 23 William BARKER, Master of the America embarked from Gravesend, Kent, England to Virginia with 87 passengers, including Henry BARKER, age 18. Several of these passengers were among the headrights on the 16 Nov 1635 patent (p95) 3
1635 Nov 16 1250 acres formerly granted to William BARKER & Associates [I don't know when or how it was granted] was patented by William BARKER, John SADLER, Richard QUEYNING (Quiney), Merchants, & to their Associates & Company. The land was in Charles City County and was called Merchants Hope. The 1250 acres was for transporting 25 persons. A note says the patent was renewed and 600 acres added. [See the 12 Feb 1638 patent] (p 35) 2
John SADLER was brother-in-law of John HARVARD (founder of Harvard College), and his sister married Richard QUINEY, whose brother was married to William SHAKESPEARE's daughter, Judith. John and Richard were both grocers in London, and they patented great tracts of land at Merchant's Hope and Brandon. (Intro. xxv) 2 There's much more about John SADLER & Richard QUINEY (pp 146-149) 4
1635 Nov 26 William patented 400 acres in Chas. City Co. on Chapells Creek and adjoining Merchants Hope. (p 35) 2
1636/7 William bought part of Flowerdieu Hundred from Mrs. Elizabeth STEPHENS (p 146) 4 This property was the subject of a 1677 dispute among William's heirs.
1637 & 1639 William BARKER appears as a headright on two Henrico Co. patents involving Arthur BAYLY, Thomas CROSBY, & Samuell ALMOND (pp 70 & 121) 2
1637 Aug 19 William patented 600 acres in Chas. City Co., called Bikers, formerly bounded on Capt. Nathaniell POWELL'S land (p 70) 2
1638 Feb 12 William and his Associates & Co. patented 1850 acres in Chas. City Co. 600 acres formerly called Powelbrooke, now Merchants Hope, had previously been owned by Nathaniell POWELL and was later sold by his brother and heir, Thomas POWELL to John TAYLOR of London. [This was a renewal of the Nov. 1635 patent.] (p 100) 2
1638 Feb 27 William received patent for 24 poles square (.144 acre). A pole = 30.25 square yards or .006 acres. Fee rent: 1 capon, etc (p 103) 2
1639 May 11 William patented 1300 acres in Chas. City Co. 500 acres bounding upon land he purchased of Mrs Elizabeth STEPHENS, lying up to the head of the Creek, & 800 acres in the same creek, being a neck of land adjacent to land lately belonging to Capt. Francis HOOKE, &c. (p 108) 2
1639 June 6 William patented 100 acres in James City Co (p 110) 2 The William BARKERs who appear as headrights on patents in various counties from 1654 to about 1665 are probably different persons.
1645 William represented Charles City in the House of Burgesses (p 149) 4
William was of the group to found the parish which build the Merchants Hope Church in what is now Prince George County (p 21) 1 I don't find any record to indicate that William ever sold any of his land.
Before 3 Mar 1655 William had died. His wife and administratrix was married to Robert NETHERLAND/LETHERLAND by that date. (p 149) 4
Robert LETHERLAND died before 1 Mar 1661/2. (p 296) 5
1 Mar 1661/2 Richard Taylor of Flowerdieu Hundred made a bond to Mrs. Frances Netherland of the same, widow, to protect her from any claims or inheritance to be had and made for Sarah, John and Elizabeth the children of said Frances by her first husband Mr. Willm Barker, dec'd. And further if John Barker shall and will at his full and lperfect age by Law to mannage his owne estate sign and deliver to the said Frances and her husband certain properties for life, at fflower d hundred, particularly one plantation, excepting the said John Barkers and the said Taylors particular own plantation and the plantations already let out by leases. The said Francis her said intended husband is meaned Lt. Coll Tho. DREW to whom only civility of John Barker is purposed." (p296) 5
After 1 Mar 1661/2 Frances married Thomas Drew, the father-in-law of her son John. [This may not be correct.] ?
10 June 1664 Frances acquitted Richard Taylor, "from a bond concerning land for my life in Flowerdieu Hundred." (p150) 4
4 June 1677 Frances petitioned the Court and received custody of her two grandchildren, John and Elizabeth Limbrey, the surviving children of her deceased daughter, Elizabeth. p 150) 4 I don't know when Frances died.
History of the lands acquired by William BARKER and his associates.
They are located contiguously on the south side of the James River and north of the Blackwater. (pp 146-149) 4
FLOWERDIEU HUNDRED (Flowerdew Hundred & Flower de Hundred)
Sir George Yeardley, Governor of Virginia, was given a tract of land by the king of the Weyanoke Indians in 1617. Their chief town was at the head of the creek later known as Powell's Creek. In 1618 Yeardley patented 1000 acres on the west side of a creek, which he named Flowerdieu, which was his wife's maiden name.
On 5 Oct 1624 Yeardley sold Flowerdiew to Capt. Abraham Piersey, a leading merchant of virginia and a member of the Council. Piersey died in 1627, leaving two daughters: Elizabeth, who married Capt. Richard STEPHENS and Sir John HARVEY; Mary, who married Capt. Thomas HILL and Thomas BUSHROD.
On 15 Oct 1636 Elizabeth STEPHENS re-patented 1000 acres in Charles City County, called by the name of Flowerdiew Hundred. Soon afterward Elizabeth STEPHENS sold part of this grant to William BARKER.
On 11 May 1639 BARKER acquired 1300 adjacent acres. This became the home of William BARKER and his family.
MARTIN'S BRANDON, POWELBROOKE & MERCHANTS HOPEIn 1617 Capt. John Martin settled on the tract called Martin's Brandon. His grandson, Capt. BARGRAVE, sold it to SADLER, QUINEY, and STURGES in 1634-36.
William BARKER appears to be a part of the acquisition transactions; but I don't know if he owned any of Martin's Brandon. Several thousand acres were added. In 1656 & 1658 SADLER & QUINEY died and left both Martin's Brandon and Merchants Hope to their heirs, who sold the property to Nathaniel HARRISON in 1720.
POWELBROOKE was the land of Capt Nathaniel POWELL, who was killed (along with his wife Joyce, daughter of William TRACY) in the 1622 Indian massacre. When William BARKER and his associates acquired the property, they changed the name to Merchants Hope for Barker's ship.
SOURCES
1 THE BRADFORDS OF CHARLES CITY COUNTY, VIRGINIA, by David
Thomas Bradford, 304 Cathedral Manor, Bardstown, KY 40004
2 CAVALIERS AND PIONEERS, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents
and Grants, by Nell M. Nugent, Vol. I, 1623-1666
3 THE ORIGINAL LISTS OF PERSONS OF QUALITY, 1600-1700, by John
Camden Hotten. Pub. 1980, Genealogical Publishing Co.,
Baltimore
4 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL GENEALOGIES, by John Bennett Boddie,
Pub. 1954, Pacific Coast Publishers, Redwood City, CA
5 VIRGINIA COLONIAL ABSTRACTS, by Beverley Fleet, Pub. 1988,
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
14 Dec 1994 Prepared by LaVere Peters