| Show t colony 1 ates from f 1 J 1111 11 11 in 1907 there la to be held on giamp too roads virginia an exposition to celebrate hp three hundredth annl of th first establishment ol 01 a permanent english colony in america on jamestown island virginia may 12 1607 island the site of the settlement lies on the north sida of the james thirty miles above II ampton roads and contains sixteen brundred acres four hundred acres of cleared jand the rest in wood and marh marchere Here dpn may IS fhe ex sent cut by the london corn three emall vessels the su san the godspeed and the discovery landed and founded the alt permanent english settlement in america as it called in honor of king james was then lo 10 bated on peninsula three and a half miles long and a mile and a half wide ou be concave side of a great bend 01 th games river but the constant washing of the river has cut through the isthmus connecting jamestown with the mainland and it Is now an island the erosion of the water has also washed away a large part of the upper portion of the island where un were many of the early houses the first regular establishment of the protestant religion in america was contemporaneous with the land ln and tt e rev robert hunt held the first services under a sail cloth suspended from trees in december 1608 ann burras was married to john laydon at the james town church this is the first record ed english wedding on american soil the marriage of pocahontas and john in april 1614 at jamestown marked the first conversion and re corded baptism of an indian in the states as well as the first law fu marriage between a white man and an indian in 1619 gov yeardley issued writs for the election of the general assem my of virginia and on july SO 1619 ruins of ambler jacquelen ln mansion the S te of the house of burgesses the first representative legislature la america assembled in jamestown church this was over a year before the landing at plymouth rock same year 1619 witnessed the arrival of the arat cargo of maidens v ho were disposed of to the colonists tor one aundrel and twenty bounds of tobacco to pay their expenses coming over it also witnessed the purchase 0 twenty negro slaves from a dutch maHO thus this year saw the first legislative assembly and the in of slavery into virginia the first resistance to taxation with out representation was made at james town in 1624 when the legislature forbade the governor to levy any taxes that had not been duly author iced september 19 1676 nathaniel ba con the leader ot the rebellion against gov berkeley burned jamestown in 1698 the seat of government was moved to seven miles inland but jamestown had a representative senta tive la the house of burgesses until 1776 in 1781 cornwallis ls made his last fiam before his fatal retreat to yorktown lork town at jamestown lord here he laid an ambush for lafayette and wayne who had chased him down the peninsula and at jamestown ford he defeated the americans fifteen weeks later cornwallis ls surrendered and american independence wai won within thirteen miles 0 the first set in the civil war jamestown was heavily fortified and was a place of great strategic importance and today to day the earthen fortifications are ln as perfect a state of preservation as when they were built common idea that jamestown is a town Is entirely erroneous as there is no town and has been none in over two hundred years the entire island Is owned by one individual and the place is inhabited only by the employed emp loyes of tho owner and Is used aa a truck farm in 1895 that part of the island which contains the historical church ruins old governors palace built in 1640 and burned eleven times the large graveyard and one of the confederate torts and the remains of john smiths powder magazine and twenty acres of ground surrounding these relics of the first settlement was given to the association tor the preservation ot virgena antiquities by the present owner mrs J bar to be lei 1 by them in trust until such time as the united states gov eminent might obtain control of the proper the most noticeable ct the ruins is flat cf the old brick church nothing remains of it except a brick tower awen feet square and thirty or forty feet high this church was bu jt about leo on the site of the atu wooden irp in wh ch was ai sized and v here she afterward joty v p i i ie clear ng tl e old which lies directly in the rear of the tower the entire foundation of he roain body of the church was uncovered I 1 here were avi foundation thirty six 1 fiat six tour buttresses on each side this I 1 now being re stored so that tourists will be able to see exactly tt e size and dimensions of the first episcopal church in the united states the jamestown parish church aa lt was formerly know 0 has the distinction of being the only church in amer old house at jamestown lea which had two sets of communion silver g ven to it by the loyal family of england one set known as the queen anne set and the other div en by willlam and mary this silver Is now held by the diocese 0 south ern and Is in the keeping 0 the vestry of the aniton parish church at williamsburg burg virginia this old foundation are the graves and tombstones of some of virginias most celebrated children among the most noted of which are those of laly francis berkeley tho wife of the notorious governor and 0 the lion philllp ludwell who was lady berkeley s second busl and though she declined to falve up her old name and title when she married him the waters of the james river by theli constant wearing on the banks of the island 1 ave laid bare many graves and skeletons one of these graves contained the 1 ones of a man clad in complete armor with a long two handed scotch claymore lying on his breast the name plate of his cof fin was brol en in half and part of it ost the lemal ning part had on it sir rod this armor is now la he rooms of the virginia society at richmond ijames barney J leftenant leu tenant fourth united cavalry in chicago record lerald sunday magazine |
