Temperance Flowerdew
Arrived in Jamestown in time for the now infamous “Starving Time”. After surviving a hurricane and eating ship rats while en route to Jamestown, she was well equipped to survive the horrible winter of 1609-1610.
Soon afterwards Temperance returned to England and married Governor George Yeardly.
Both returned to Jamestown and raised a family. Governor Yeardly was proficient in business matters and became very wealthy, owning several plantations, one of which was named for his wife, Flowerdew.
Governor Yeardly died in 1627 and Temperance married his successor, Governor Francis West.
Temperance died in 1628. She will be remembered as a very resourceful woman who managed to raise a family in the wilderness.
Anne Burras
And Mistress Forrest is believed to be the first women settlers in Jamestown. Anne, personal maid to Mistress Forrest, and Mistress Forrest’s husband arrived in Jamestown in 1608.
Anne made quite an impression with the male settlers, being young, pretty and available.
She married a carpenter, John Laydon, 3 months after her arrival. It would be the first official wedding ceremony in Jamestown. Anne would also have the first native-born Virginian. Her name was Virginia Laydon. It could be argued that Virginia Dare was the first born in the Roanoke colony, but as we all know that colony did not survive. *
It’s not clear what happened to Mistress Forrest.
Pocahontas
Married John Rolfe in 1614. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan of the Algonquian tribe. When the English settled Jamestown in May of 1607, Pocahontas became an instant friend of John Smith. As the story goes, Pocahontas saved John from death by pleading for his life. This is thought to have been an Indian ritual and his life was really never in danger.
Pocahontas accompanied her Indian compatriots when they traveled to Jamestown to trade various items. She became a regular fixture in Jamestown until colonists and Indian relations became tense.
To solve this problem Captain Samuel Argall lured Pocahontas aboard his ship and promptly held her for ransom. Powhatan paid a portion of the ransom and asked Argall to treat his daughter well. When Argall returned to Jamestown, Pocahontas settled in Henrico, where she began her education in the Christian faith while still in captivity. This is where she met John Rolfe.
The leader of Henrico, Sir Thomas Dale took 150-armed men into Powhatans’ territory, and with Pocahontas in tow, demanded the rest of the ransom. It was a battle, taking lives on both sides, until Pocahontas declared her love for John Rolfe and wanted to marry him. Powhatan agreed and peace came to the colonists and Indians alike.
Pocahontas accompanied her husband to England, where she was very well received. Preparing for their return trip to Virginia in March of 1617 Pocahontas died, survived by her husband and a young son, Thomas. She is buried in Gravesend, England.
Anne Hutchinson
Was a well-educated woman thanks to her fathers’ library and teachings. Her strong religious belief and conviction that she was born to spread “the word” landed her in a Massachusetts Bay colony court for heresy.
She had the audacity to teach gods word to men and women, a thing unheard of in 1638 puritan society.
Governor John Winthrop condemned her for teaching men in public only because as a woman, it was not fitting “of her sex”. She was also known for her criticism of the colony’s ministers. Her belief that the truth came to her as a direct revelation from God was considered heresy in Massachusetts.
In 1638, she and her family were expelled from Massachusetts by court order. They moved to Providence plantation, founded by Roger Williams, where different religious beliefs were a little more tolerated.
She moved to New Amsterdam after her husband died, and in 1643, she and her five children were killed in an Indian raid.
The Massachusetts State Legislature revoked her banishment in 1945 and a statue of her stands on its grounds as a reminder of America’s freedom of religion.
Margaret Brent
A sister and two brothers arrived in Maryland in 1638. Margaret’s family was wealthy and had close ties to the Calvert family, including Governor Leonard Calvert of Maryland. She was spared the hardships most immigrants found upon their arrival in the New World.
Despite her obvious comfort, she became very adept at business transactions, mainly from lending monies to new immigrants. Only unmarried women could conduct business or own land at that time. This could have been why she remained single all of her life.
Governor Calvert became so impressed by her business prowess that he named her executrix of his estate.
Richard Ingle, a Protestant, attacked the Catholic colonists of Maryland. He kidnapped one of Margaret’s brothers and took him to England. Governor Calvert fled to Virginia to muster up help for his colony. A year later he returned with soldiers from Virginia and defeated Ingle. Soon afterwards Calvert died.
