The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-30

and the first OF the eighteenth century. 10
acquire, therefore, an accurate conception
OF Virginia's social life from 1907 to 100, the
student must examine a very large mass OF
miscellaneous printed and manuscript ma
terials. which are primarily concerned with
other subjects, such, for instance. as the
pamphlets preserved in Forces Historical
Tracts" the Virginian Parish registers, the
original colonial documents now in the GUS
tody of the British State Paper Office in Lon
don, and, above all, the several hundred vol
umes of Virginia county records OF the seven
tenth century which still survive. All Of
these sources of information have been con-
suited by the author with a view TO the prep
aration of the present monograph.
i.
What was the population OF Virginia at
various dates during the seventeenth CEN
fury? A formal count in 1884 reveals the
fact that the number Of inhabitants did not
then exceed 4,9l4, but after the census was
taken a Dutch ship brought in las persons
from the Bermudas and ar English ship
sixty from England. Thereafter, in conse-
quence of the more orderly state OF affairs
and the rising prosperity of the colony,
there was q marked inflow OF new settlers,
so that in 1884 alone POO arrived. About
1897 the whole body Of tithables had grown
to 1000, a proof that the population then
ranged between 70, 1000 and $4,000. h is
to say, the number of inhabitants had in
creased to at least fourteen times that which
had been counted in 1884. 1t doubtless
would ave been much larger but for the
fact that after the revocation OF the charter
Of the London Company the emigration fell
off materially.
In his Economic History OF Virginia the
author Gweiis at some length OF the inhu-
ences which impelled the large class OF the
colonial population that was known as
"indentured servants, including mechanics
as well as agricultural laborers, to leave
their native England and bind themselves
for a term Of years TO planters in the Old
Dominion. The object Of his present in
quiry, on the other hand, is, as we have said,
TO ascertain the influences that from time
to time during the seventeenth century
caused the emigration to the colony Of a
considerable body OF men who Immediately
on their arrival took a position Of equality
with the foremost Of the gentry there, a
position to which they were entitled by
their social connections with England II not
by the amount OF wealth they had brought
with them. What, in short, was the pre-
vious social history OF the founders Of the
families that made up, or at least controlled,
the highest social life OF Virginia in the
seventeenth century? By the end Of that
century, when property had been accumu-
lating during nearly a hundred years and a
sufficient interval had passed TO allow at
least two generations to be born and to
grow up in the colony, a very notable pro-
portion Of the leading members OF the landed
gentry were natives of the country, who
had inherited their estates from fathers
who in their own lifetime had been among
It's most conspicuous citizens. From 1919,
however, when the community became for
the first time free, down to 100, perhaps not
q, twelvemonth went by In which this upper
class did not receive acoessions through the
arrival from England OF men OF equal social
standing who we're in a position to acquire
by patent or by purchase estates, large or
small These newcomers became at once
as much a part Of the higher class as II they
had been born in the colony on the same
plane Of life or had risen TO it after long
residence in Virginia.
With few exceptions the most distin-
guished families in the colonial history OF
Virginia were founded in the seventeenth
century. In this century emigrated from
England the Armisteads, Banisters, Bas-
sets, BANDS, Bollings, Beverleys, Burwells.
Byrds, Carys, Corbins, Carriers. Claibornes,
Custises, Fauntleroys. Ftzhughs, Harri-
sons, Lees, Lightfoots, Ludwells, Masons.
Pages, Peytons. Randolphs, Robinsons,
Scarborough, Spencers, Thoroughgoods,
Washingtons and Wormleys-families that
represented the nearest approach 10 an
organized aristocracy which North America.
north Of Mexico. has ever seen, and which
constituted in their association with the
eighteenth II not with the seventeenth GEN.
tury the stateliest social body known in the
history Of the region which was 10 become
the United Ststee.
What caused the large emigration OF
upper class Englishmen TO Virginia-large
In proportion 10 the volume Of England's
population at the time? Our author an
swers that, given a people possessed OF a
bold, e~nterprising and restless temper and
Of narrow chances OF fortune in their ma
tive land, the disposition TO emigrate. even
when great obstacles are 70 be overcome
and long distances 20 be traversed. will be
Irresistible" Unquestionably this was the
general condition of the English people in
the seventeenth century. The author is
also right in saying that no GLASS in the
community would feel the effect Of q sphere
too contracted for the quick improvement
OF their pecuniary status more than the
class which shared the most ancient blood
IN the kingdom. IL was not merely the
men who trimmed the hedges. dug the
bitches. reapcd the corn. followed the
plough and drove the teams afeld that
turned to Virginia as a land where they
might. after completing a term OF inden-
tured service. acquire an interest in the
soil and build homes on their own estates,
however small in area. The soma also OF
long descended gentlemen. residing on their
" ancestral acres, or the sons Of men
engaged in the professions Of law, medi-
cine and the ministry, or the sons OF msn
who relied upon a small local trade or an
extended general business for the SUPPORT
ef their families-all these turned toward