Smith's Hundred or Smythe's Hundred was a colonial English settlement in the
Province of Virginia, in the modern United States of America. It was one of the original
James River plantations named after the treasurer of the Virginia Company, Sir
Thomas Smythe
Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith, c. 1558 – 4 September 1625) was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until envelo ...
. It was settled by the English in 1617 and after 1620, was known as Southampton Hundred in honor of the Earl of Southampton.
The site was originally home to a village of the
Paspahegh Indians. They were located along the north bank of James River.
Smith's Hundred was located eight miles above the English fort at
Jamestown and extended from Weyanoke Hundred to the south bank of
Chickahominy River on the north bank of James River. The settlement was abandoned after the
Powhatan Uprising of 1622.
The area is now called Sandy Point in
Charles City County, Virginia
Charles City County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated southeast of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and west of Jamestown, Virginia, Jamestown. It is ...
.
The first General Assembly (which became the
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...
) in 1619 included two representatives for Smythe's Hundred Plantation:
Captain Thomas Graves and
Walter Shelley.
Communion silver
St. Mary's Church was established in Smith's Hundred in 1618 in part with £200 bequeathed by Mrs. Mary Robinson, of
St. Olave Parish in London, to educate the "poore people" (i.e.
Powhatan Indians) in Christianity.
Along with others who contributed to the church was an unknown person who gave a set of Communion Silver (
Hallmark
A hallmark is an official Mark (sign), mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''Wikti ...
: London 1617/1618).
When the church was abandoned during the Uprising of 1622, the communion silver was taken to Jamestown. It was held by
Sir George Yeardley, Governor of the
Colony of Virginia
The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776.
The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...
.
After his death, the Jamestown court in 1628 had
William Claiborne, land surveyor for the Colony, inventory the items from Smith's Hundred. It is believed he had the silver given to the
St. John's Episcopal Church, the second Church in the relocated, renamed settlement (then called
Elizabeth City).
This silver comprises the oldest church artifacts in continuous use from the colonial period in the United States. These items are preserved and used on special occasions at St. John's, now located in
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...
.
References
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1617 establishments in the Colony of Virginia
Populated places in colonial Virginia
Geography of Charles City County, Virginia