Women of Colonial Virginia facts for kids
In May 1607, about one hundred men and boys arrived in what is now Virginia. They became the first permanent English settlers in America. They named their new home Jamestown after King James of England.
The settlers chose this spot carefully. It was surrounded by water on three sides, making it easy for ships to come and go. It was also far enough inland to protect them from possible attacks by the Spanish. Plus, no Native American tribes were living on that exact spot at the time. In the early days, only men were allowed to settle, as they had to build the colony first.
The Powhatan Indians often helped the early settlers by providing food and supplies. But in 1609, a bad drought hit, and the Powhatan tribe didn't have enough to share. This time became known as the "starving time." Many settlers died from hunger and sickness because they lacked food and supplies. They were so hungry they ate anything they could find, even things that weren't food.
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Women's Roles in Early Virginia
Before Europeans arrived, Native American women in Virginia did many important jobs. They handled household tasks and worked hard in the fields. It was common for Native American women to have more responsibilities than men. For example, Powhatan women (like Pocahontas's tribe) often ate separately from men. Men often traveled for hunting or trading, leaving women to manage things at home for long periods. This meant women had to be strong and independent.
When European women came to the New World, their roles were different. European women were usually expected to do household chores, care for children, and teach them. They were not supposed to take on jobs typically done by men. Some European women even went to live with Native American tribes to teach them English ways, like weaving clothes, and to share their religion and culture.
Wealthy European families who owned enslaved people had help with household tasks. But families who couldn't afford enslaved people had to do all the chores themselves.
Why Women Came to Virginia
Women brought a sense of stability to the Jamestown Colony. Many came to marry men already there or to work as indentured servants. Some, like Cecily Jordan Farrar, came at a young age with their families.
By 1610, the colony wanted to establish more families. Women often married soon after arriving and were expected to have children to help the colony grow. After 1618, single women could not own land. The Virginia Company believed that if women owned land, they might be less likely to marry. This was a problem because the colony needed more families. Women often had many children, but childbirth was very dangerous back then.
African American women were first brought to Virginia in 1619. Three women and 20 men were sold into forced labor to wealthy landowners like Governor George Yeardley. At first, they were treated like indentured servants. But after a legal case in 1654 involving Anthony Johnson and John Casor, their legal status changed, and they became enslaved for life.
Over time, African American women were forced to work in the fields, doing jobs usually done by men, as well as domestic duties. They were also seen as a way to produce more enslaved people. In Colonial America, society was divided by class, race, and gender.
Female indentured servants, who were usually white, often did similar work to what they did in England, from household chores to farming. The role of women was clear. If a woman was from a wealthy family, she supervised enslaved people in the house. If she was a farmer's wife, life was much harder. She worked from dawn to dusk in the house and fields. This hard life often led to more respect for her important role.
Women's Rights in Early Virginia
In the early Virginia colonies, women had fewer rights than they did in England. They could not vote, own land, or hold political office. If a woman was not married, her father controlled her rights until she married. Then, her husband took control.
The only women who could escape male control were widows. Even if a widow remarried after her husband's death, she had the right to control her own property. To keep control of property given to her by her deceased husband, a widow had to make special legal arrangements. These arrangements would stop a future husband from taking over her land rights.
Indentured Servants and Enslaved People
In 1619, about twenty Africans were brought to Virginia on a Portuguese ship. They were initially treated as indentured servants. Before this, most indentured servants were white. African people were not legally enslaved for life until the case of Anthony Johnson v. John Casor in 1654.
Being an indentured servant meant you worked for a certain period to pay for your trip to the New World. You were not allowed to marry while serving your time. After your contract ended, you were free. By the 1620s, indentured servants were very important to Virginia's economy and society. Without them and enslaved people, Virginia would have faced major economic problems. The original settlers found it hard to do all the work needed.
Sometimes, servants and enslaved people felt overwhelmed and tried to run away to live with Native Americans. If caught, they faced severe punishment. However, some masters treated their servants and enslaved people with respect. This sometimes made them more willing to work for the owner after their contract ended.
In 1640, views on race began to change for enslaved people. For example, in 1640, three servants—two European and one African—ran away. When caught, a Virginia judge ordered the European servants to serve their master for one more year. But the African servant was ordered to serve his master for the rest of his life.
By 1622, African American women became even more valuable because they could work in both the fields and the household. This led the Virginia Company to allow more African American women to be brought in for their dual workload.
Indentured servants were like temporary workers. Their masters did not own them for life. After their contract, they were freed and often given clothes, seeds, and land. Enslaved people, however, were considered property. Masters had a financial investment in them, and they were expected to work for their entire lives.
Women of the Virginia Colonies
Pocahontas (Matoaka)
Pocahontas was a famous Native American woman who helped the early Jamestown colonists. She was the daughter of Wahunsenaca, the chief of the Powhatan tribe. Her birth name was Matoaka. She was once captured by the English settlers, which caused problems between the Native Americans and colonists.
Pocahontas helped bring food to the early Jamestown settlers. She later learned English ways and was baptized into the English Christian religion. In 1614, she married an English settler named John Rolfe. Her marriage helped calm the tensions between the English and Native Americans. She died in England in 1617.
Mistress Forrest
Mistress Forrest was the first English woman settler to arrive in Jamestown in 1608. She came with her husband, Thomas, and her maid. She was also the first woman in Jamestown to give birth to a child. Mistress Forrest and her maid, Anne Burras, were the only two women in the colony until another ship arrived in 1609. They were seen as bringing stability to the colony, which had only been made up of men and boys before they arrived.
Anne Burras
Anne Burras was Mistress Forrest's maid. She came to Jamestown with Mistress Forrest in 1608. She was brave to leave her known life for an unknown future in the colonies. Three months after arriving, she married John Laydon. She was only fourteen, and he was twenty-eight. Their wedding was the very first in Jamestown. They had four daughters and found it hard to raise them in Virginia, but they worked hard to make a stable life. Anne Burras survived both the "Starving Time" and the Indian Massacre in 1622.
Temperance Flowerdew
Temperance Flowerdew came to Jamestown in the fall of 1609 with four hundred other settlers. She survived the "Starving Time" and its illnesses, then returned to England. In 1619, she came back to Jamestown, married to Governor George Yeardley. When Yeardley became governor, Temperance became Lady Yeardley. Her husband made a treaty that granted one thousand acres of land in her name. After her husband died, Temperance married Governor Frances West in 1628. She died a few months later.
Cecily Jordan Farrar
Cecily Jordan Farrar arrived in Jamestown in 1611. After her husband, Samuel Jordan, died in 1623, a minister named Reverend Grivell Pooley claimed she had agreed to marry him. However, later that year, she said she had not agreed and instead decided to marry another man, William Farrar. She made this decision in front of Governor Yeardley and the Council of Virginia.
This event led to the first legal case about a broken promise to marry in English North America. It was unusual because a woman was the one being sued. The case took two years to settle, but Cecily won in the end. Reverend Pooley had to promise to release Cecily from any claims he had on her. During this time, Cecily became the head of her family's 450-acre plantation, Jordan's Journey. After the case was settled, she married William Farrar.
Jane Pierce
Jane came to Virginia with her mother, Joan Pierce, on the ship Blessing in 1609. Both she and her mother survived the "Starving Time." Her mother was known as the best gardener in the colony, and Jane learned a lot from her. In 1619, Jane married John Rolfe after Pocahontas had passed away. They had a daughter who died in 1635 at age 15.
Jane Dickenson
Jane Dickenson came to Virginia with her husband as indentured servants in 1620. She was sent to work on a plantation along the James River. During a Native American uprising, she was captured and held for almost a year. A doctor named John Pott rescued her by paying a ransom. After her rescue, she became a servant for the Potts family and moved to Jamestown. In 1624, she asked the governor for her freedom. She argued that serving the Potts family was even harder than being held captive by the Native Americans.
Hannah Bennett Turner Tompkins Arnold
Hannah Bennett Turner Tompkins Arnold was the only surviving child of her parents. Because of this, she inherited over four hundred acres of land in the 1630s. Throughout her life, she gained a large amount of land. Her first husband helped her get the title to her father's land. When he died, she became a widow and inherited all his land. She went through the same process with her second and third husbands. Hannah became a well-known and important person in the community because she owned so much land.
Mary Aggie
Mary Aggie was an enslaved woman who worked for Anne Sullivan, a tavern owner in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1728, Mary tried to sue Anne for her freedom, but the judge did not grant it. Mary tried to show the judge her strong Christian faith. This helped her later when she was accused of stealing three sheets worth forty shillings from her owner in 1730.
At that time, stealing could lead to death or severe physical punishment. But for Mary, it did not. She convinced the judge that she was a faithful Christian, which meant she qualified for a special legal protection called "benefit of clergy." This meant that because it was her first offense, she did not receive any charges. Her case lasted for months, and in May 1731, she was forced out of the colony and sold as an enslaved person to another colony. However, because she fought for her rights, she became part of history. After her case, all Virginians, regardless of race or gender, gained the right to plead "benefit of clergy" for their first conviction.
Christina Campbell
Christina Campbell grew up in the Williamsburg Virginia colony. After her husband died in 1752, she was a widow with two daughters to support. To help her family, she opened and ran her own tavern. Her tavern was successful for more than twenty years. It is believed her father, John Burdett, was also a tavern owner, and her parents taught her the skills needed to run one. Christina also owned enslaved people, which helped her manage the work at the tavern and at home. She even sent the children of her enslaved people to a school for African American children, which was rare for slave owners at the time.
Mary Draper Ingles
Mary Draper Ingles was an early settler in western Virginia. In the summer of 1755, during the French and Indian War, she and her two young sons were captured by Shawnee warriors after the Draper's Meadow Massacre. They were taken far away to Lower Shawneetown.
After two and a half months, Ingles escaped with another woman. They walked 500 to 600 miles, averaging eleven to twenty-one miles a day. They crossed many rivers and creeks and the Appalachian Mountains to return home to what is now Blacksburg, Virginia. Forty-two days after her escape, she reached her friend Adam Harman's home on December 1, 1755.
Mary and her husband later started the Ingles Ferry across the New River, along with a tavern and blacksmith shop. She died there in 1815, at the age of 83.
Images for kids
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Women's work in the 17th Century, carrying away the communal latrine
