Edmund Scarborough Colonel Edmund Scarborough ( also spelled Scarburgh ) ( September 1617 – 1671 ) was an influential early settler of Virginia and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1642 to 1671 . Early life and family . Scarborough was born in England . His father , Capt . Edmund Scarborough ( 1584 – 1635 ) , was a barrister and graduate of Caius College , and an army captain , who emigrated to Virginia about 1621 . He settled on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with his family around 1628 , and represented the Accomac Shire in the Virginia General Assembly in the 1630s . A brother , Sir Charles Scarborough , remained in England , became a noted mathematician , studied medicine , and was a founding member of the Royal Society . A Royalist , he served as physician to Kings Charles II and James II after the Restoration . Scarborough ' s eldest son would drown as an adult in the York River on September 21 , 1739 . Career . Scarborough was one of the most prominent of the early English settlers of the Accomac Shire of the Virginia Colony , now the Eastern Shore of Virginia . On April 28 , 1651 , Scarborough led a raid of some fifty men , on the nearby Pocomoke Indian village along the northern boundary of Accomac Shire , after convincing the settlers that the Indians planned to attack . At least one historian doubts the veracity of his story and suggested that he may have invented the story in order to raise enough men for the attack on the village . After the settlers captured some of the villagers and bound two of them in chains , the Indians massed along the border , and it was believed they were about to attack the English . In May all the men involved in the action were called to appear in court , including Ambrose Dixon , to account for their actions . Scarborough was exonerated , however , when the court found that his raid had been justified by the circumstances . Scarborough at various times served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses , on the Governor ' s Council , county sheriff , lawyer , planter , surveyor , firearms dealer , cattle rancher , merchant , ship owner , Accomack Justice , and militia colonel . He employed Indians to herd his livestock while at the same time selling guns to them and condemning them in the General Assembly for obtaining firearms . In the 1650s when England was at war with the Dutch , one of Scarborough ' s ships was seized en route to other colonies for trade . He retaliated by seizing a Prussian ship of similar size , no matter that it was not of Dutch ownership . In 1652 , Scarborough sold his seven ships ( Deliverance , Mayflower , King David , Sea Horse , Holly Horse , Ann Clear , and Artillery ) to William Burton of Boston . He also incited a scandal among a local parson to deflect criticism about his own lack of morals . Near the end of his career , Scarborough helped survey the border between the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia , the Calvert - Scarborough Line , moving it substantially northwards to keep his own holdings within the colony of Virginia . A familiar tradition on the Eastern Shore holds that he once called local Indians to a great feast where he reported the Great Spirit would speak to them . The Indians dared not disobey , and when they assembled Scarborough fired on them from an artillery piece hidden nearby . This most likely took place in Northampton County in 1671 . This was Scarborough ' s way of eliminating enemies and dispersing the local tribes , as well as consolidating his power in the two counties of Accomack and Northampton ( which at various times were combined to form one county ) . Scarborough ' s main adversary , Colonel Obedience Robbins ( from Northamptonshire , England ) , served as a foil to " King " Scarborough during the forty years that he was in power on the Eastern Shore . It is said that the two counties were finally created by the two arch rivals because they did not wish to live in the same municipality ; hence , Northampton and Accomack Counties . Robbins also served as a burgess with Scarborough and sought to nullify any attempts by his crafty nemesis to cause trouble on the Eastern Shore , whether it be with local Indians or with local government . Scarborough also took a mistress named Ann Toft ( 1643 – 1687 ) . Ann lived in Accomack from at least 1660 as a femme sole and was probably the wealthiest woman in Accomack due to her association with Scarborough . Ann bore three daughters during the 1660s who were probably fathered by Scarborough . Scarborough set Toft up in business at a plantation known as Gargaphia on present day Gargathy Neck in northern Accomack County ( seaside ) . This of land was transferred from Scarborough to her in Feb . 1664 when Ann was 21 . Gargaphia , as it was known , shows up on many maritime maps of the time and would have been a convenient stopping point for sailors and a good embarkation point for Scarborough ' s many products and crops . Ann married Daniel Jenifer soon after Scarborough ' s death from smallpox in 1671 . By 1663 Col . Scarborough had become an enemy of the Quakers located in Accomack County , Virginia ( including Ambrose Dixon ) . After the group of Quakers moved to Maryland where they were offered more religious freedom , Col . Scarborough used his positions as commander of His Majesty ' s Forces on Virginia ' s Eastern Shore and Surveyor - General of the Virginia Colony to lead a force of men into Maryland and claim the area for Virginia . Scarborough ' s main residence was a property in Accomack County on Occahannock Creek known as Hedra Cottage . Although the original house is gone , a later one stands in its place . When Scarborough died after 1671 he was buried there but it is thought that his gravestone was removed by friends to keep his enemies from desecrating his remains . A modern marker has been placed on the grounds .