Colonel Edmund Scarborough (also spelled Scarburgh) (September 1617 – 1671) was an influential early settler of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and member of the

Virginia House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

from 1642 to 1671.

Early life and family

Scarborough was born in England. His father, Capt. Edmund Scarborough (1584–1635), was a barrister and graduate of

Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, and an army captain, who immigrated to Virginia about 1621. He settled on the

Eastern Shore of Virginia The Eastern Shore of Virginia consists of two counties ( Accomack and Northampton) on the Atlantic coast detached from the mainland of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is se ...

with his family around 1628, and represented the

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". ...

in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

in the 1630s.Kukla, pp. 40-41 A brother, Sir

Charles Scarborough Sir Charles Scarborough or Scarburgh Member of Parliament, MP Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, FRCP (29 December 1615 – 26 February 1694) was an English physician and mathematician.Robert L. Martensen, ...

, remained in England, became a noted mathematician, studied medicine, and was a founding member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. A Royalist, he served as physician to Kings Charles II and James II after the Restoration. It is said that Scarborough's eldest son would drown as an adult in the York River on September 21, 1739, though these dates do not line up and there is no name attached to this legend.

Career

Scarborough was one of the most prominent of the early English settlers of the

of the

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, now the

. On April 28, 1651, Scarborough led a raid of some fifty men, on the nearby Pocomoke Indian village along the northern boundary of Accomac Shire, after convincing the settlers that the Indians planned to attack. At least one historian doubts the veracity of his story and suggested that he may have invented the story in order to raise enough men for the attack on the village. After the settlers captured some of the villagers and bound two of them in chains, the Indians massed along the border, and it was believed they were about to attack the English. In May all the men involved in the action were called to appear in court, including

Ambrose Dixon Ambrose Dixon (1619''Ambrose Dixon: The Man and the Legacy'', James Edward Jensen – April 12, 1687) was an early United States, American Quaker settler, pioneer who was born in England and emigrated to America at an early age where he lived in th ...

, to account for their actions. Scarborough was exonerated, however, when the court found that his raid had been justified by the circumstances. Scarborough at various times served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses,Kukla, pp.40-43 on the Governor's Council, county sheriff, lawyer, planter, surveyor, firearms dealer, cattle rancher, merchant, ship owner, Accomack Justice, and militia colonel. He employed Indians to herd his livestock while at the same time selling guns to them and condemning them in the General Assembly for obtaining firearms. In the 1650s when England was at war with the Dutch, one of Scarborough's ships was seized en route to other colonies for trade. He retaliated by seizing a Prussian ship of similar size, no matter that it was not of Dutch ownership. In 1652, Scarborough sold his seven ships (Deliverance, Mayflower, King David, Sea Horse, Holly Horse, Ann Clear, and Artillery) to William Burton of Boston. He also incited a scandal among a local parson to deflect criticism about his own lack of morals. Near the end of his career, Scarborough helped survey the border between the

Eastern Shore of Maryland The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that ...

and the

, the Calvert-Scarborough Line, moving it substantially northwards to keep his own holdings within the colony of Virginia. In 1657, Scarborough forged a letter in which his black neighbor, Anthony Johnson’, acknowledged a debt. Johnson did not contest the case. Johnson was illiterate and could not have written the letter; nevertheless, the court awarded Scarborough 100 acres (40 ha) of Johnson’s land to pay off his alleged "debt". A familiar tradition on the Eastern Shore holds that he once called local Indians to a great feast where he reported the Great Spirit would speak to them. The Indians dared not disobey, and when they assembled Scarborough fired on them from an artillery piece hidden nearby.Wise p. 87 This most likely took place in Northampton County in 1671. This was Scarborough's way of eliminating enemies and dispersing the local tribes, as well as consolidating his power in the two counties of Accomack and Northampton (which at various times were combined to form one county). By 1663 Col. Scarborough had become an enemy of the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

located in Accomack County, Virginia (including

). After the group of Quakers moved to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

where they were offered more religious freedom, Col. Scarborough used his positions as commander of His Majesty's Forces on Virginia's Eastern Shore and Surveyor-General of the Virginia Colony to lead a force of men into Maryland and claim the area for Virginia. Scarborough's main adversary, Colonel

Obedience Robbins Colonel Obedience Robbins (sometimes given as Robins) (April 26, 1600December 30, 1662) was a Burgess six times in Virginia during the 17th century. Family Obedience Robins was born in 1600 to Richard Robins and Dorothy Goodman. In 1634, Robbins ...

(from Northamptonshire, England), served as a foil to "King" Scarborough during the forty years that he was in power on the Eastern Shore. It is said that the two counties were finally created by the two arch rivals because they did not wish to live in the same municipality; hence, Northampton and Accomack Counties. Robbins also served as a burgess with Scarborough and sought to nullify any attempts by his crafty nemesis to cause trouble on the Eastern Shore, whether it be with local Indians or with local government. Scarborough also took a mistress named Ann Toft (1643–1687). Ann lived in Accomack from at least 1660 as a femme sole and was probably the wealthiest woman in Accomack due to her association with Scarborough. Ann bore three daughters during the 1660s who were probably fathered by Scarborough. Scarborough set Toft up in business at a plantation known as Gargaphia on present day Gargathy Neck in northern Accomack County (seaside). This of land was transferred from Scarborough to her in Feb. 1664 when Ann was 21. Gargaphia, as it was known, shows up on many maritime maps of the time and would have been a convenient stopping point for sailors and a good embarkation point for Scarborough's many products and crops. Ann married Daniel Jenifer soon after Scarborough's death from smallpox in 1671. Scarborough's main residence was a property in Accomack County on Occahannock Creek known as Hedra Cottage. Although the original house is gone, a later one stands in its place. When Scarborough died after 1671 he was buried there but it is thought that his gravestone was removed by friends to keep his enemies from desecrating his remains. A modern marker has been placed on the grounds.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scarborough, Edmund 1617 births 1671 deaths Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses People from Accomack County, Virginia Deaths from smallpox Virginia Governor's Council members Virginia sheriffs English emigrants Virginia colonial people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge