| In 1651 the English squadron of Cromwell, having forced the colony at
Barbadoes to submission, entered the Chesapeake with orders to compel Berkeley
and the Loyalists of Virginia to acknowledge allegiance to the Commonwealth.
Cromwell was greatly incensed when he learned that the Virginia colony had refused to swear fealty to the new government in England. Parliament, by his suggesstion, passed an ordinance declaring the Virginians rebels and traitors, and issued a decree forbidding them commercial intercourse with England or any other colony. Notwithstanding the isolated condition of the little band of Royalists and the impossibility of making successful defense, yet, under the leadership of Berkeley, they did not hesitate to take up arms in defense against the invading fleet. Ref |
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“While the new parishes were getting a foothold, England was engaged
in a civil war which started in 1642 and culminated in the downfall of
Charles I and his subsequent decapitation in 1649. Virginia espoused the
Royalist cause and was the last of the colonies to submit to Cromwellian
rule. “Prior to the arrival of the Cromwell regime, there had been a great
influx of Cavaliers, or Royalists, who fled the mother land. Now, hundreds
more Englishmen of the poorer class poured in and new land was taken up.
Economic conditions, however, were at a low ebb because Parliament had
adopted a navigation act which required all trading to be done with England,
thereby eliminating a prosperous trade which had been built up with the
Dutch. Because of the preponderance of tobacco as a crop, conditions in
what is now Prince George were deplorable for some years." |
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Before 1622 there was a plantation on the south bank of the James River
in Virginia called Powelbrooke (now Merchants Hope) that was owned by
a In 1622 Nathaniel Powell was killed in the historic "Jamestown" Indian massacre. In 1632 his brother and heir, Thomas Powell, sold Powelbrooke to a John Taylor of London. In 1634 the shire of Charles City was formed and included this land.
Previously, the areas along the James were separated into "hundreds"
with Later, in 1703 Charles City was divided into Charles City (north of the
James) and the newly-formed Prince George County(south of the James) where William Barker was master and captain of the ships "America"
and "Ye Merchant's Hope" and was in Virginia as early as 1625.
Most of his land In 1637 and 1639, William Barker was named on two different land patents in Henrico County which bordered Charles City/Prince George to the west. In 1637 William Barker patented 600 acres in Charles City formerly bounded
by Capt. Nathaniel Powell's land. William Barker and his Associates & William Barker married Frances Ward. Their daughter was Sarah Barker was married three times and her husbands
were: The above was heavily quoted from Carol Middleton's research. |