Old Virginia Customs: Hospitality

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Colonel Henry Norwood left England after the ruin of the royal cause and during his stay on the Eastern Shore of Virginia stated that there was much rivalry among the planters as to who should feast him first and most often.  He wrote in 1656 that he was received everywhere with the heartiest of welcomes. "Virginia," he said, "wants not good victuals, wants not good dispositions, and as God has freely bestowed it, they a freely impart with it."  Sources: Norwood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 48; Leah and Rachel, p. 19.

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Old Virginia Customs: The Gun

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The laws of the colony were such that it was required that the head of every family should keep in his house, ready to hand, a well-fixed gun, two pounds of powder and eight pounds of shot for every person under him who was able to carry arms. The object was immediate defense against sudden Indian attack.  The gun was mostly used to bring down birds, as there was an abundance of many varieties in the colony.  All observers agreed that the number of these birds appearing was far beyond the power of human calculation; that for hours they darkened the sky like a pall of thunder clouds; and that they broke down by their weight the limbs of the forest whenever a flock lighted in search of food. Robert Beverley (in his book) related that sometime as many as seventeen wild turkeys were captured at one time in a large trap built in the midst of a forest. Source: History of Virginia by Beverley.

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Old Virginia Customs: Fate of the Irish

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The fateful Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish, and Irish thrones. That is to say, the Catholic King James and the Protestant King William (who had deposed King James in 1688).  The site was on the River Boyne near Dogheda to the east of Ireland.  This battle marked the turning point in James' long unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne. The result was that the protestants ruled Ireland. So it was that many of the Irishmen who were captured at the Battle of the Boyne were imported into Virginia as agricultural servants.

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Old Virginia Customs : The Poor

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Apparently, the Virginia colony afforded a great climate and soil to produce food and there was no excuse for going without. However, there are always lazy people, regardless of the state of things. But as a general rule, Virginians were hard-working and industrious. Here is what Robert Beverley said in his book History of Virginia:

"§ 53. They live in so happy a climate, and have so fertile a soil, that nobody is poor enough to beg, or want food, though they have abundance of people that are lazy enough to deserve it. I remember the time when five pounds was left by a charitable testator to the poor of the parish he lived in, and it lay nine years before the executors could find one poor enough to accept of this legacy, but at last it was given to an old woman. So that this may in truth be termed the best poor man's country in the world. But as they have nobody that is poor to beggary, so they have few that are rich; their estates being regulated by the merchants in England, who it seems know best what is profit enough for them in the sale of their tobacco and other trade.
§ 54. When it happens, that by accident or sickness, any person is disabled from working, and so is forced to depend upon the alms of the parish, he is then very well provided for, not at the common rate of some countries, that give but just sufficient to preserve the poor from perishing; but the unhappy creature is received into some charitable planter's house, where he is at the public charge boarded plentifully."

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Old Virginia Customs: Social Impressions

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The gentlemanly disposition and independence of the planter and his manly self-reliance created an important influence for him in the community. He cultivated the best of friends and maintained high standards of conduct and morals.  Those who visited Virginia wrote home about it. Virginians made
an impression upon distinguished London families.

"Virginians were naturally of beautiful and comely persons, and generally or more ingenious spirits: than the people of England, said the author of Virginia's Cure in 1666. Another traveler to Virginia, Hugh Jones, had flattering words to say about Virginians.

Source: Present State of Virginia by Hugh Jones. (illustration)

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Old Virginia Customs: Freedom and Politics

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Although he was an Englishman, the colonial Virginian was diligent in the fight for personal freedom and demanded all of the rights ascribed under English Law. In fact, the basics of English Law helped to prescribe American principles  of justice and decency.  The emigrant invested his fortune in his passage to America and went to great extremes to improve his circumstances and create an economy which would pass to his children.  The adventure itself called for a spirit of enthusiastic pride. Therefore, it would follow that brave men such as the insurgents of Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 would rise up and fight against the colonial Governor Berkeley who refused to defend their rights against local Indians who stole and destroyed the homes and properties they had worked so hard to produce.  This is the spirit so prevalent in the early colonists in so many of their early experiences. In the last will and testament of George Jordan dated 1677,  during the Rebellion, he wrote "God almighty to bless this poore Colonie, and this county especially, wherein I have lived forty-three years."   Source: Surry Records, Vol. 1671-84. p. 296.

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Old Virginia Customs: The House of Burgesses

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The Virginia House of Burgesses was run by respectable gentlemen who served their communities. In those days, a gentleman was a responsible person having impeccable integrity and character. He served others in the spirit of fairness and without petty grudges. His word was his bond. He could take it to the bank. The burgesses decided on all county business, from the sale of tobacco and live stock to gambling. The monthly meetings was the opportunity to exchange news. Strict measures were enacted against intoxication, quarreling and fighting. All persons entering the court room while the judges were sitting were required to be properly dressed and presented themselves in an orderly and respectful manner. The process emulated that of the English courts.  When the petition of George Mayplis was presented to the county of Lancaster for the right to sell cider at the court-house on court day, it was granted "upon the condition that its exercise should be in no way injurious or prejudicial in ye disturbing of ye court in ye time of its sitting."  Source: Lancaster County Records, Orders, July 12, 1682.

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