Thomas Wotton (1582-1669) was a surgeon who traveled to
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...
in 1607 with the original group of colonists. Another surgeon, Will Wilkinson, also was among the first colonists. Wotton was described as a "gentleman" while Wilkinson was identified with the laborers and craftsmen.
Captain John Smith praised Wilkinson for his treatment of the sick.
[Hughes, 1970, pp. 59–60.] Edward Maria Wingfield, when council president, on the other hand, criticized Wilkinson for staying aboard ship during periods of great need.
Wingfield would not provide funds for Wilkinson to purchase drugs and other necessities because of his view of Wilkinson's slothfulness.
Captain
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport (1561–1617) was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the ''Susan Constant'', the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to found the settle ...
who brought the first settlers from England took Wotton on his journey up the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
on the ''
Susan Constant'' to the falls at
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
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before he returned to England for supplies. Wotton stayed to help care for the colonists.
In a compilation of abstracts of English wills from the 17th century, the compiler notes that Thomas Wotton, barber and surgeon, whose will was dated March 15, 1635 and proved April 28, 1638, may have been the same Thomas Wotton who accompanied the first settlers to Jamestown.
[Withington, Lothrop]
'Virginia Gleanings in England: Abstracts of 17th and 18th-century English wills and administrations relating to Virginia and Virginians: a consolidation of articles from The Virginia magazine of history and biography'
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980. Reprinted 1998 by Clearfield Publishing Company. Excerpted from ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.'' . Retrieved March 2, 2013. p. 361.
Notes
References
* Hughes, Thomas Proctor
'Medicine in Virginia 1607 - 1699' Charlottesville, VA: Univ. Press of Virginia, 1970. . Retrieved March 2, 2013.
*
Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed
''Encyclopedia of Virginia biography'' Volume 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved July 15, 2011.
* Withington, Lothrop
'Virginia Gleanings in England: Abstracts of 17th and 18th-century English wills and administrations relating to Virginia and Virginians: a consolidation of articles from The Virginia magazine of history and biography' Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980. Reprinted 1998 by Clearfield Publishing Company. Excerpted from ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.'' . Retrieved March 2, 2013.
* Woolley, Benjamin
'Savage Kingdom: Virginia and The Founding of English America' New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. . Retrieved March 2, 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wotton, Thomas
People from colonial Virginia
1582 births
1669 deaths
People from Jamestown, Virginia
English emigrants