William Capps (occasionally spelled Capp or Cappes) was born in

Norfolk, England Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

in or around 1575. William married Catherine Jernagin (also spelt Katheryn Jermingham) in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, 11-Dec-1596, a
St. Michael at Plea
He and his wife had five children together: Henry, Frances, Willoughby, Anne, and William.

Arrival Virginia

He traveled to the Colony of Virginia aboard the ''

Sea Venture ''Sea Venture'' was a seventeenth-century English sailing ship, part of the Third Supply mission to the Jamestown Colony, that was wrecked in Bermuda in 1609. She was the 300 ton purpose-built flagship of the London Company and a highly unusual ...

'' and was apparently among those shipwrecked in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

for several months before reaching the New World. William Capps arrived in Virginia in 1609-1610 and settled at

Kecoughtan In the seventeenth century, Kecoughtan was the name of the settlement now known as Hampton, Virginia, In the early twentieth century, it was also the name of a town nearby in Elizabeth City County. It was annexed into the City of Newport News in ...

on the west side of the

Hampton River The Hampton River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tidal estuary which empties into Hampton Roads near its mouth. Hampton Roads in turn empties into th ...

. This site is in present-day Hampton, Virginia and is on the opposite side of the Hampton River from the grounds of Hampton Institute. There is a street called "Capps Quarters" in this area that is almost certainly part of William Capps' original tract of land. A Virginia historical marker is posted in this area. This point, patented by William Capps about 1634, was known for a century as Capps Point. The area was later renamed Little England.

had originally been the site of an Indian village which on May 1, 1607 had some 18 houses of twigs and bark and 20 fighting men. Indians and whites had lived together at this site for the first years of the Colony, but in summer 1610 Sir Thomas Gates drove the Kecoughtan Indians from the area in retaliation of the killing of a settler at Fort Algernourne (Old Point Comfort). The settlement grew slowly as a report of John Rolfe in 1616 shows: "At Keqoughtan, being not farr from the mouth of the river, thirty-seven miles below James Towne on the same side, are twenty ersonswhereof eleven are Farmors."Hatch, Charles E., Jr. The First Seventeen Years, Virginia 1607-1624, Charles E. Hatch, Jr., Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1957, pp. 97

Ancient Planter

In May-1616 only 350 of all persons who had come to Virginia remained there - the rest having died or given up and returned to England. Three years later in 1619 the first general division of land in Virginia occurred. Those settlers having arrived before 1616 and having three years residence, termed "

ancient planter "Ancient planter" was a term applied to early colonists who migrated to the Colony of Virginia in what is now the United States, when the colony was managed by the Virginia Company of London. They received land grants if they stayed in the colony fo ...

s," were entitled to . John Rolfe described the situation in Jan-1620 in glowing terms: "All the ancient planters being sett free have chosen places for their dividendes according to the commission, Which giveth all greate content, for knowing their owne landes, they strive and are prepared to build houses & cleere their groundes ready to plant, which giveth ...

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the g ...

greate incouragement, and the greatest hope to make the Colony florrish that ever yet happened to them."

First House of Burgesses

That same year as the land division, the Colony's Governor issued a call for the first representative legislative assembly in America which convened at Jamestown on July 30, 1619 and remained in session until August 4, 1619. Twenty-two Burgesses met representing the 11 major settlements in Virginia. The

settlement was represented by Capt William Tucker and William Capps. A memorial church built on the foundations of the church in which 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 establishe ...

met exists at the

Historic Jamestowne Historic Jamestown is the cultural heritage site that was the location of the 1607 James Fort and the later 17th-century town of Jamestown in America. It is located on Jamestown Island, on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia and operated ...

National Park Service site on Jamestown Island, Virginia. A monument bearing the names of the Burgesses is located near within the confines of the newly rediscovered original Jamestown fort. It was apparently at their urging that the first

was asked "to change the savage name of Kiccowtan, and to give that Incorporation a new name." The new name selected was

Elizabeth City Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...

after the daughter of King James. In Dec-1619 the population of Virginia was about 900 out of a total immigration of 1440.

Member Virginia Council

In 1627, William Capps was appointed a member of the Council by the Crown upon the recommendation of the Governor. The Councilors were the Governor's advisers in executive matters and constituted the supreme court of the Virginia. They also held legislative functions as members of the upper house of the Virginia Assembly, corresponding somewhat to our senate.William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine (WMCQ), July 1897, Volume VI, p. 194-195. Two years later William Capps asked leave of the Governor to depart the colony on the King's affairs, and when permission was refused, departed any way. In 1630 he returned with the King's letter of instructions to the Council. The date of his death was →1637 which was 8 years after the passing of his Wife Catherine.←

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capps, William 1570s births 17th-century deaths Year of death unknown Virginia colonial people House of Burgesses members