9:2 The Immigrants to Virginia
Thomas of Jamestown Golding and the East India School
One of the most interesting and compelling stories about William Goulding the Clergyman is in his relationship with Rev. Patrick Copeland, the clergyman who tried to establish an Indian school prior to the 1621 massacre at Jamestown and the possible connection to Thomas Goulding, who arrived on the George in 1623 with Ellis Emerson of Martin’s Hundred, a man who frequently housed apprentices brought over by Copeland to help with the school. It's an interesting and convoluted story but the ties between the early colony of Virginia and Bermuda were very strong. Rev. Patrick Copeland was connected to Virginia (and to William "the Clergyman") in that he tried to establish a school there for the Indians.
"His second visit to the New World, in 1621, gave him the idea for one of his life's major projects: he realized there was a total lack of schools and churches in Virginia - Copeland set about raising funds and planning the country's first college. However, news of massacres in Virginia, and the dissolution of the East India Company, put an end to America's first projected college, and Copeland, along with his family and others, set sail for Bermuda (then known as the Somers Islands); the East India Company had transferred £300 to the Somers Island Company, the entity who effectively owned the islands to found a school there." (Who Begat Whom)
Rev. Patrick Copeland and the East India School
The Reverend Patrick Copeland was a Puritan minister who was first employed in the service of the East India Company. In 1614 he was the Chaplain on one of the company’s ships. In 1616 he returned to England accompanied by a native whom he had taught by signs to speak, read and write the English language and at his suggestion this man was publicly baptized on December 22 of that year in St. Dennis Church in London. He was proclaimed as the ‘First Fruits of India.’ Not long after that, in 1617 Copeland and his pupil sailed for the Indian ocean in the ship Royal James. This was one of the fleet of ships which Sir Thomas Dale, the late governor of Virginia assumed command of on September 19, 1618. In the presence of Dale and in view of an impending naval conflict with the Dutch on December 2, Copeland preached his first sermon on the ship. The next year Dale died along with his long-time associate Sir Thomas Gates and Copeland, still on the Royal James, went to Java. By 1621 The East India Company was in financial trouble. Unpaid dividends and the increased use of lotteries had made future investors wary, and the Company debt was now over 9000 pounds. Worried Virginians were hardly reassured by the advice of the Treasurer Sandy’s who warned that the Company “cannot wish you to rely on anything but yourselves.”
Copeland left Java in February of 1621 and boarded a ship to return to England. He had become interested in Virginia through his conversations with Dale and Gates and so managed to collect on the homeward voyage the sum of 70 pounds from his fellow passengers, to be employed he told them for the use of a church or school in Virginia. When he got to London, he turned over this money to the authorities of the Virginia Company who made him a free member. They decided there was more of a need for a school than a church and destined the money, along with an additional 130 pounds from donors for the establishment of a free school at Charles City, which is now City Point. This school should hold a due dependence on the proposed university at Henrico and be called the ‘East India School’ after it’s East India benefactors.
In recognition of his zeal for the colony and his experience as a missionary, the company appointed Mr. Copeland rector of the intended college for the Indians on July 3, 1622 as well as a part of the university and a member of the council for Virginia. (Rev. Patrick Copeland)
In 1621 the affairs of the colony were most promising. It was growing in population and in wealth and in the institutions of a Christian commonwealth. The territory was divided into parishes for the work of church and clergy but the obstinacy of King James, against the remonstrances of the Company, perpetrated the crime of sending out a hundred convicts into the young community, extorting from Captain Smith the protest that this act "hath laid one of the finest countries of America under the just scandal of being a mere hell upon earth." In 1625 he died, and Charles I became Monarch.
“The sweepings of the London and Bristol streets were exported for servants. Of darker portent, though men perceived it not, was the landing of the first cargo of negro slaves. But so grateful was the Company for the general prosperity of the colony that it appointed a thanksgiving sermon to be preached at Bow Church, April 17, 1622, by Mr. Copeland, which was printed under the title, "Virginia's God Be Thanked." In July, 1622, the Company, proceeding to the execution of a long-cherished plan, chose Mr. Copland rector of the college to be built at Henrico from the endowments already provided, when news arrived of the massacre which, in March of that year, swept away one half of the four thousand colonists. All such enterprises were at once arrested.” (Bacon, 1897)
The 1622 Indian Massacre
The 1622 attack on the settlements in Virginia was carefully planned and carried out with such precision that only the settlement at Jamestown fort had time to prepare a defense. The Powhatan Confederacy under their leader Opchanacanough (l. 1554-1646) and his brother Opitchapam (d. 1630) resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists out of a total population of 1250 on March 22, 1622. The attack happened before noon and was a total victory for the Powhatan. Opchanacanough's objectives had been to demonstrate his own military might and demoralize the colonists and he achived both of those aims. The only thing he aimed for but did not achieve was to cause the Europeans to abandon Jamestown fort and go back to England. The colonists instead entrenched and fought back during the Second Powhatan War which lasted from 1622 to 1626, which they won. Opchanacanough launched another offensive in 1644, setting off the Third Powhatan War from 1644 to 1646 which ended when he was taken captive and killed. (Massacre of 1622)
Of the many settlements around Jamestown that were especially hard hit in 1622, Martin's Hundred was especially hard hit and the colony at Henricus where the college and hospital were located was destroyed and all the inhabitants including John Rolfe were killed. News of the massacre reached England and King James I in response dissolved the Virginia Company and the Crown took direct control of the colony, claiming he could better protect the colonists than the company had been able to do. (Massacre of 1622) Rather than rebuild the destroyed college in Virginia, Copeland, along with his family and others, set sail for Bermuda which was then known as the Somers Islands. The East India Company had transferred £300 to the Somers Island Company who effectively owned the islands so that a school could be founded there instead. This suggests Copeland abandoned the Henricus school after the massacre.
The Encyclopedia of Virginia gives the following account:
“On Wednesday, April 17, 1622, Copeland, at the invitation of the London Company, preached a thanksgiving sermon in London for the happy success of affairs in Virginia the previous year. But about the middle of July it was learned from Capt. Daniel Gookin, who came from Newport News, that on Good Friday, March 22, the Indians, whose children were so largely in the proposed scheme of instruction, had risen and barbarously destroyed George Thorpe, the noble superintendent in charge of the college lands, and 346 more of the unsuspecting settlers. The university, college and free school were all three abandoned, and Copeland did not go to Virginia." (Rev. Patrick Copeland)
Thomas Goulding arrives in Virginia in 1623
It was in the next that Thomas Goulding came to Virginia with Ellis Emerson on the ship George. There is no proven family connection between William 'the Clergyman' Goulding and Thomas Goulding of Jamestown, only the fact that both had a connection through Patrick Copeland, William directly because he was one of the three minister active in the church organization in Bermuda and Thomas indirectly through his association with Ellis Emerson.
In 1623 when a fourth charter intended to severely reduce the Virginia Company's ability to make decisions in Virginia was proposed by the Crown, the subscribers rejected it. It was then that Thomas Goulding arrived. The Servants Database has very little information on him and the Jamestown Society lists him but gives no point of origin other than the fact that he was in Jamestown, living in the household of Ellis Emerson of Martin's Hundred during the Muster of 1624.
The Indentured Servants Database on the Price Genealogy website lists Thomas in the following way:
"Individual Record; Name: Thomas Golding; Male; Birth or Christening: about 1599 Orphan; Parents Unknown; Year of Indenture: 1623; Place of Indenture: Colony Virginia (Indentured Servants Database)
There are actually three people listed on this database, Thomas included.
Goulding Thomas Virginia 1599 1623 Virginia
Goulding William Virginia 1667 1676 Accomack County
Gouldinge Jane 1618 1634 Her point of origin is listed as Devon, England and the primary source given for her is Alison Grant, “Emigration from Devon in the Seventeenth Century, Michael Duffy et al, The New Maritime History of Devon, Volume I: From Early Times to the Late Eighteenth Century (London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd, 1992),
Gouldinge Sara Virginia 1605 1623
The sources used for this database include some of the usual go-to’s like John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality. (Hotten, 1874)
Likewise, the Jamestown Society in its list of qualifying ancestors confirms that there was a Thomas Goulding at Jamestown and that he was a landowner in 1638 but gives no additional information about where he might have come from. The record is:
Goulding, Thomas - A3110; Jamestowne Island: 1638 (Landowner) (Qualifying Ancestors)
The Jamestown Society gives a list of suggested resources that might be useful in further research and these are:
● Residence (Jamestown Island only) is found in Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666 and Cavaliers and Pioneers Volume II 1666- 1695, by Nell M. Nugent and Documentary History of Jamestowne Island Vol. III: Biographies of Owners and Residents by Martha W. McCartney.
● Service for Jamestowne is found in The General Assembly of Virginia 1619-1978 by Cynthia Leonard and Colonial Virginia Register by William & Mary Stanard.
● A list of Stockholders in the Virginia Company is found in The Records of the Virginia Company of London, volume III, by Susan Kingsbury.
● Signers of the Charters are found in The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London by Samuel Bemiss.
● A list of Anglican Ministers is found in Empire, Religion and Revolution in Early Virginia, 1607-1786 by James Bell and The Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina by Frederick Lewis Weis.
● The 1624/5 Muster is found in Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/5, 4th edition, volume 1, by John Frederick Dorman. This work is referred to as APP.
● The Lists of the Livinge and Dead in Virginia 1623 is found in The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and Others, who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700 by John Camden Hotten.
● John Frederick Dorman’s three-volume work Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia (APP) traces the lines of many early Virginia settlers through six generations and is particularly useful as a reference in proving the earlier generations in one’s own lineage. Applicants must use the 4th edition published between 2005 - 2007.
● Mayflower Families Through Five Generations for Isaac Allerton (through the son Isaac II), Stephen Hopkins, and William White (through daughter-in-law Judith Vassall).
The following books although helpful are considered secondary sources by the Jamestowne Society-
● Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635, by Martha W. McCartney.
● Jamestowne People to 1800, by Martha W. McCartney.
● The Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660 by Peter Wilson Coldham.
● The Complete Book of Emigrants 1661-1699, Vol II by Peter Wilson Coldham.
The problem with Virginia records that go back to those very early days is that so many of the original documents have been destroyed over the years.
Thomas Goulding is listed as an ‘orphan’, of course that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was. It just means that no sources exist to determine his point or origin. He was definitely the first to survive, that said because there was an earlier George Golding who came with the first wave of settlers but he died shortly after arriving during the terrible ‘starving time’ of Jamestown.
Ellis Emerson and his family
Ellis Emerson and his family came to Virginia on the George in 1623 and immediately seated at Martin's Hundred. He reportedly was instrumental in persuading Robert Adams to stay on the plantation, despite difficult living conditions. On February 4, 1625 Ellis Emerson was living at Martin's Hundred with his wife Ann and 11 year old son Thomas. Ellis was a household head and was relatively well supplied with provisions and defensive weaponry. The Emersons had two servants, one of whom (THOMAS GOULDING) came with them on the George in 1623. On April 11, 1625 Ellis Emerson testified that he had put Elias Gail, a young male servant and one of the East India School's apprentices to work on the Rev. Patrick Copeland's behalf. On June 15, 1625 Mr. Emerson and Martin's Hundred's leader, William Harwood, offered accommodations to the people who came to Virginia TO ESTABLISH THE EAST INDIA SCHOOL. Ellis Emerson died sometime prior to October 31, 1626 at which time Robert Scotchmore of Martin's Hundred presented his will to the justices of the General Court. He may have been the father of Alice Emerson who died in 1624-5."
"Ann Emerson, the wife of Ellis Emerson came to Virginia on the George in 1623. She was accompanied by Ellis, his son Thomas and perhaps a daughter named Alice.. On January 3, 1626 Mrs. Emerson was ordered to pay two of the debts incurred by the late Matthias Fenton, taking the funds from his estate. She was widowed prior to October 31.
In 1623 Thomas Emerson and his father Ellis came to Virginia on the George and by February 4, 1625 had seated some land at Martin's Hundred. Thomas was then age 11. He may have been the son of Emerson's wife Ann and the brother of Alice Emerson, a girl who died at Martin's Hundred." Everyone in the household of Ellis Emerson was there and accounted for in the Muster of 1624-5
MUSTER OF THE INHABITANTS OF VIRGINIA SETTLEMENTS, January 20 to February 7, 1624-1625
Virginia People
Muster of the inhabitants of Virginia settlements, January 20-February 7, 1624/5
Settlers living at "Martins Hundred", in Virginia, February 4, 1624/5
("Robert Scotchmore and his Company", having moved here, were previously counted in the "Maine")
Emerson, Ellis . . . . . . . . . -- Arrived on the George in 1623
(wife) Emerson, Ann . . . . . . -- Arrived on the George in 1623
(son) Emerson, Thomas . . . . . 11 Arrived on the George in 1623
Goulding, Thomas . . . . . . . . 26 (Servant)
Ellis Emerson died sometime prior to October 31, 1626 at which time Robert Scotchmore of Martin's Hundred presented his will to the justices of the General Court. He may have been the father of Alice Emerson who died in 1624-1625. (McCartney, n.d., p. 279)
Three people named Gale are listed in Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers by Greer
1. Elias (Ellias) Gaile (Gale) - On February 16, 1624 Elias Gale was living in John Burrows' Jamestown Island household. He was still sharing the Burrows family's home on January 24, 1625 and was a 14-year-old indentured servant. Elias was sent to Virginia in late 1622 by the REV. PATRICK COPELAND as an apprentice for the East India School and was supposed to serve Copeland for 10 years. On February 19, 1626, when Elias Gaile was 15 he witnessed a dispute between Thomas Leister and Roger Stanley which resulted in a sword fight. Afterward, he was called to testify before the General Court.
2. John Gale - On February 16, 1624 John Gale was living at Flowerdew Hundred and probably was one of Abraham Peirsey's servants.
3. Robert Gaile - On October 24, 1621, Virginia Company officials learned that Robert Gaile had filed suits against John Burrows of Jamestown Island and the estate of William Tracy of Berkeley Hundred. (McCartney, n.d., p. 316)
Patrick Copeland also has an entry in McCartney, on p 224.
"In late 1621 the Rev. Patrick Copeland, a clergyman, with financial support from mariners from the Royal James, proposed to build a free school in Virginia, in the corporation of Charles City. Virginia Company officials were enthusiastic about his proposal and in November 1621 gave him three shares of land, redeemable for a 300 acre private plantation. Afterward, his patent and compensation (three tenants) were confirmed by the Company. In February 1622 he informed the Company that the had found a suitable usher for the East India School, a man who was a good scholar. The Rev. Copeland was to be rector of the East India School and of the College, the location in which his parsonage was to be built and he was named a member of the Council of State. In 1622 Copeland sent his servant, Elias Gale to Virginia where he was to serve for ten years as an apprentice for the East India School. However, the Indian attack in March 1622 disrupted the plan to build the East India School and the area in which it was to be erected was considered unsafe. In January 1623 Virginia company officials decided that when the men of the East India School reached Virginia, they should be placed with the surviving College tenants, who had been evacuated to safety and were then living on the lower side of the James River in the vicinity of William Ewen's plantation. Later, plans were made for the East India School's men to be sent to Martin's Hundred. However, several of those who came to establish the school died before the project actually got underway and officials decided not to build the school at Martin's Hundred. Although there was talk of reviving the project, eventually it was abandoned. In April 1624 the Rev. Patrick Copeland, who had returned to England was given custody of an Indian boy whom colonist William Perry had sent to England. In 1626 Copeland went to Bermuda, where he became a clerical councilor and preacher. As time went on, he began to support Puritan views and in 1647 was punished with imprisonment. He died around 1651, perhaps in Bermuda." (McCartney, n.d., p. 224)
Captain Thomas Osborne of Jamestown
Here is a real longshot, interesting for the fact that he was associated with the Indian School and that his mother's name was reported to have been Ellen Goulding. Captain Thomas Osborne was from Essex, England and according to the Essex, England Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials he was baptized on 27 Jan. 1607, the son of Thomas Osborne. Thomas Osborne is a qualifying ancestor in the Jamestown Society. “Osborne, Thomas - A5809; born ca. 1606, living in 1642, Henrico Co. (Musters of 1623/4 and 1624/5)”
THOMAS OSBORNE came to Virginia in the Francis Bonaventure in August 1620. He may be the Thomas Osborne, son of Thomas and Ellen (Goulding) Osborne who was baptized at Tolleshust Darcy, Essex, England on 24 Jan. 1607. He was living 'in the main' 1623-4 and at Pasbahaighs, James City 1624-5 aged 18, when he was one of the governor's men. As Captain Thomas Osborne he patented 6 Feb. 1637-8 1000 acres in Henrico..the land lying on Proctor's Creek and called "Fearing". His parents were married at Tolleshunt Major, Essex on 25 Oct. 1604 and had 3 other children: Mary, John (bap 6 Nov 1609 and Mary. The will of Thomas Osborne dated 28 Jan 1611/12 was proved in 1612. (Dorman, p. 737)
This was posted to a Genealogy.com forum in 2009 by Donna Crumb "Re: Thomas Osborn, Jamestown, VA
"I found this info on osborne-origins.org: Capt. Thomas Osborne of Henrico County, Virginia. The first reference to Lt. Thomas Osborne is his arrival in Virginia in November 1619 on the ship Bona Nova. He was 35 making his birth year about 1584 in England. He is probably the first Osborne to arrive in America and is probably of the Sir Edward Osborne family of London, but no proof yet exists. He came to Virginia as PART OF A GROUP SENT BY THE LONDON COMPANY TO SET UP A COLLEGE AT HENRICO for the purpose of educating the Indians and others. After leading a counterattack on the Indians after the 1622 raid, he was promoted to Captain and is mostly known as Captain Thomas Osborne of Henrico, VA. He patented land on the James River just north of Henricus, Va which became known as Coxendale, where his family lived for five generations before beginning their migration south into North Carolina and South Carolina. There is still a Coxendale Road in Chester, VA which leads to the general vicinity of the old Coxendale plantation.."
In 1638 Thomas Goulding secured a patent for a lot in urban Jamestown in 1638. From this point onward there is no further mention of him.
Thomas Goulding's 1638 lots was adjacent to Robert John's acreage. John secured an August 1638 patent for a parcel within Study Unit 1 tract E Lot F according to Nugent 1969-1979:1:96, Patent Book 1:595. (McCartney, Documentary History of Jamestown Island: Biographies, 2000, p. 129)
From Patents Issued during the Regal Government, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 2. (Oct., 1900), pp. 67-74.
Continued from Vol. IX., pages 11 to 18). The book in which the patent was recorded, the page, the patentee's name, date of issue, number of acres and locality of the lands. JAMES CITY COUNTY. BOOK NO. 1 Page 460. ... Thomas Hill and Richard Tree. 588. Thomas Hill, Augt. 1, 18\638. 48 pole. In James City Island; adjoining the land of Richard Kemp. 594. Francis Barrett, August 29, 1638. 600 acres. Butting upon Chickahominy river, adjoining the Land of John Robins. 595. Robert John, August last, 1638. 14 pole in James City adjoining the land of THOMAS GOULDING. 596. John Moore and Rowland Burnam, Sept. 4, 1638. 200 acres. ... (usgwarchives.net)
1624-1638 - This is a period of 14 years in which no mention of Thomas Goulding is made in the annals of Virginia.
CONCLUSION: There is no proof that Thomas Goulding, servant to Ellis Emerson and Rev. William Golding are related to each other. It is only the similarity of the surname and their mutual connection to Ellis Emerson and Rev. Patrick Copeland. The following things are known:
1. Ellis Emerson had both an affiliation with Rev. Patrick Copeland and was engaged in providing accommodations to 'the apprentices of the East India School'.
2. Rev. Patrick Copeland was a chaplain of the East India Company and he along with Rev. Nathaniel White and Rev. William Golding were permanent residents of the Somers Island and they contributed largely to the organization of the Congregational Church there.
3. Rev. William Golding was associated with the Somers Islands and so were Percival Golding and Gideon Golding, two men of known ancestry. Rev. William Golding married the daughter of the Governor of the Somers Island, Elizabeth Chaddock and they had a son named John. His will was signed 24th August 1648, "I, William Goulding of Summer Islands, minister of God’s word and the gospel of Jesus Christ.." The time of Rev. William Golding predates the time of Percival 'the Schoolmaster".
4. The will of Rev. William Golding/Goulding clearly states that his nephew was William and William's father's name was Bartholomew.
References
(n.d.). Retrieved from Who Begat Whom: http://whobegatwhom.co.uk/ind451.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from usgwarchives.net: http://www.usgwarchives.net
Bacon, L. W.-1. (1897). A History of American Christianity. New York, New York, USA: Christian Literature Co. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica00baco
Dorman, J. F. (n.d.). Adventures of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624 (Vols. Families G-F). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=tcM40zgdAZgC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=william+mason+virginia+1655+daniel+llewellyn&source=bl&ots=xMwsoQFq8b&sig=K_XZk-Zvp3yEBvrgMo0aneDbElM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAmoVChMIruCT6fnkxwIV0X-SCh3DFwEP#v=onepage&q=william%20mason
Hotten, J. C.-1. (1874). The original lists of persons of quality, emigrants, religious exiles, political rebels, serving men sold for a term of years, apprentices, children stolen, maidens pressed, and others, who went from Great Britain to the American plantations, 1600-1700. London, New York, Empire State Book Co. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/originallistspe00hottgoog
Indentured Servants Database. (n.d.). Retrieved from Price Genealogy: https://immigrant.pricegen.com/search/surname.php?letter=G
Massacre of 1622. (n.d.). Retrieved from worldhistory.org: https://www.worldhistory.org/Indian_Massacre_of_1622/
McCartney, M. W. (2000). Documentary History of Jamestown Island: Biographies. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/books/edition/Documentary_History_of_Jamestown_Island/Ps5-1eZWRHQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Elias+Gale+1624+Jamestown&pg=PA129&printsec=frontcover
McCartney, M. W. (n.d.). Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary. Retrieved from googlebooks: https://books.google.com/books?id=orDbMGpInaQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Early+Immigrants+to+Virginia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtiaiei7PkAhVJ4qwKHbLyC0IQ6AEwAnoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=martins%20hundred&f=false
Qualifying Ancestors. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Jamestown Society: https://www.jamestowne.org/goulding---greville.html
Rev. Patrick Copeland. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Virginia: http://vagenweb.org/tylers_bios/vol1-03.htm