Warrosquoake Shire (with numerous variant spellings, including Warrascoyack,
Warrascocke and "Warwick Squeak") was officially formed in 1634 in the
Virginia colony
The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...
, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this. It was named for an Algonquian-speaking tribe that was part of the Powhatan Confederacy. The county was renamed in 1637 as
Isle of Wight County
Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...
, after an island in the English Channel.
History
Shortly after the establishment of
Jamestown in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling areas adjacent to
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, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic ...
. The shoreline region of the Warrascoyack River was occupied by the Warraskoyak tribe of the
Powhatan Confederacy
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhata ...
, under their ''
weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. Weroances were under a paramount chief called Powhatan. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the coloni ...
'', Tackinekintaco. In December 1608,
Captain John Smith
John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...
left his page Samuel Collier with Tackinekintaco to learn the language.
The main Warraskoyak village was located where present-day
Smithfield, Virginia
Smithfield is a town in Isle of Wight County, in the South Hampton Roads subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia in the United States. The population was 8,089 at the 2010 census.
The town is most famous for the curing and productio ...
developed. A satellite village called Mokete was at Pagan Point, and another called Mathomank was on Burwell's Bay, led by a sub-weroance named Sasenticum.
The first English plantation in the region, dating to 1618, was that of
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
merchant
Christopher Lawne Christopher Lawne was an English merchant and Puritan of note, who was among the earliest settlers in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century. Born in Blandford, Dorset, he emigrated on the ''Marygold'' in May 1618 and died in Virginia the fo ...
. Several other Puritans also settled nearby.
Edward Bennett, an English merchant and a free member of the
London Company
The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N.
History Origins
The territo ...
, was among those who got a land patent and founded his plantation in 1621.
[ He named his plantation ''Warrosquoake'',][ after the river which the indigenous people called by that name. His plantation suffered high fatalities of colonists in the Great Massacre of 1622, losing 53 persons. A total of the 347 colonists were killed that day, as the Powhatan tribes tried to kill and expel the English.
The surviving English retreated to a small number of plantations near Jamestown until an expedition was mounted against the Warraskoyak and ]Nansemond
The Nansemond are the indigenous people of the Nansemond River, a 20-mile long tributary of the James River in Virginia. Nansemond people lived in settlements on both sides of the Nansemond River where they fished (with the name "Nansemond" mean ...
peoples. The colony built a fort nearby Bennett's plantation.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 establishe ...
, then returned to England.
His nephew Richard Bennett came out to manage the plantation, and stayed in the colony. He became a large landowner and eventually governor of the colony. In 1629, the "County of Warascoyack" was represented in the House of Burgeses was represented by Richard Bennett, Captain Nathaniel Basse (who owned Basse's Choice), and three others, all Puritans. This was the Puritans' strongest representation in a colony dominated by members of the Anglican Church.
By 1634, by order of the King of England, Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
, eight shires of Virginia
The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later. As of 2007, five of the eight original ...
were formed, with a total population of 4,914 settlers. Warrosquoake Shire included 522 persons at the time.[Boddie, p. 172] It and Accomac Shire were the only shires given Native American names, honoring the friendly tribes nearby. In 1637 the English renamed it as Isle of Wight County, after an island of the same name in the English channel between England and France. They also renamed the Warrosquoake river as the Pagan River
The Pagan River (Warraskoyak) is a tributary of the James River located in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The colonial seaport town of Smithfield (and its National Register-listed Smithfield Historic District) sits on the banks of this river.
...
.
During the three years when it was officially Warrosquoake Shire, Richard Bennett led the small Puritan community to neighboring Nansemond. They later moved to Maryland when under religious pressure in Virginia. He returned during the Cromwellian period with a Parliamentary Commission to take over from the Royalist government and served as Governor of Virginia.
As population increased, land was drawn from Warrosquoake Shire and Isle of Wight County to form many other counties to the immediate southwest, in the region now defined as Southside Virginia
Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period.
Duri ...
. The counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, Greensville and Brunswick were all created within the limits of what had been Warrosquoake Shire.
References
*Boddie, John Bennett (1973). ''Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia'', Genealogical Publishing Company. {{ISBN, 0-8063-0559-2.
Virginia shires
1634 establishments in Virginia
Populated places established in 1634