Thomas Herrick, sometimes spelled Thomas Hayrick or Thomas Heyrick or Thomas Heyricke was a member of the

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 ...

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 ...

, the elected lower house of the colonial

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 ...

, from the "Upper Part of"

Elizabeth City, Virginia Elizabeth City (or Elizabeth Cittie as it was then called) was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company of London, acting in accordance with instructions issued by Sir George Yeard ...

, later Elizabeth City County, Virginia, now

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

, in 1629–1630.Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard
''The Virginia Colonial Register''
Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons Publishers, 1902. , Retrieved July 15, 2011. pp. 55, 56. Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed
''Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography''
Volume 1. New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved February 16, 2013. p. 256–257. In a note in the ''Richmond Standard'' quoted in other sources,

Henry Herrick Henry Herrick, sometimes spelled Henry Hayrick or Henry Heyrick or Henry Heyricke was a member of the Colony of Virginia, Virginia House of Burgesses, the elected lower house of the colonial Virginia General Assembly, from Warwick County, Virgi ...

, burgess for Warwick County, Virginia in 1644–1645, is said to be a nephew of Thomas Herrick. On March 24, 1630, Herrick and six other burgesses were ordered by Act II of the assembly of 1629–1630 to inspect the site for a fort at Old Point Comfort at the extreme tip of the

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the ...

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

and to agree with Captain Samuel Mathews for the building of the fort.Mathews was

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

in 1658–1660. Stanard, 1902, p. 16. Stanard spells his name "Matthews" but Tyler, 1915, pp. 48–49 spells it "Mathews." Act II of the Assembly spells the name "Mathewes."

Notes

References

* Hening, William Walter, ed. ''Statutes at Large,'' (Laws of Virginia) Volume 1, Richmond: Samuel Pleasants, 1809. * McCartney, Martha W
''Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary''
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007. . Retrieved March 7, 2013. * Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard
''The Virginia Colonial Register''
Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons Publishers, 1902. , Retrieved July 15, 2011. * Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed
'Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography'
Volume 1. New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved February 16, 2013. Virginia colonial people House of Burgesses members {{Virginia-politician-stub