Thomas Dew (died ) was a

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 ...

landowner and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

representing

Nansemond County Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. From ...

Early life

His birth date and location are uncertain, though he had to have reached legal age (21) before he settled in Nansemond County in 1634 as discussed below. In 1672 Dew became a Quaker, possibly after William Edmundson, an associate of Quaker George Fox visited Nansemond County. Complicating matters, in 1660, a man named "Andrew Dew" bought land in Essex County considerably northwest of Nansemond County. That man had a wife named Ann and sons named Andrew and Thomas, but no proof exists of a family relation between the two Dew families.

Career

Dew settled in the vicinity of the

Nansemond River The Nansemond River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in Virginia in the United States. Virginian colonists named the river ...

by 1634, and in 1642 represented what was then-called "Upper Norfolk County" (but a decade later became

) in the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

. Nansemond County voters then re-elected Dew to what became called the

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 ...

in every session until 1656, and in the second (November) session of 1652 he succeeded his neighbor

Edward Major Edward Major (1615 – c. 1655) was an English religious dissenter who emigrated to the Virginia where he became a planter, military officer and politician who represented the area variously called Upper Norfolk County or Nansemond County and beca ...

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

; with burgesses electing

Walter Chiles Lieutenant Colonel Walter Chiles (died 1653) was a Virginia politician and merchant. He moved to Virginia around 1638, and served as a burgess on and off from 1642 to 1653, representing Charles City County and later James City County. He also serve ...

of Charles City County their speaker in the next session. Dew served on the Governor's Council of State from 1655 until 1660. In 1656 Virginia's governor authorized Dew to explore the coast of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

between

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shape ...

and Cape Fear.

Death and legacy

The date of Dew's death is unknown, but was after 1681. Notwithstanding later Quaker opposition to slavery, his descendants or that of family members likely owned slaves.See note on talk page

References

1690s deaths Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses Politicians from Suffolk, Virginia Year of birth unknown {{Virginia-politician-stub