English ships to enter them as belonging to Virginians.1 The order in council condemning these laws showed rather premature apprehension, since John Page and others, in a petition presented by them to Lord Culpeper in 1681, stated that there were but two ships in the Colony which were owned by citizens of Virginia and had been built in its confines.2 The English Government apparently did not oppose the construction in the Colony of sea-going vessels, provided that their cargoes were made subject to the usual duties. In 1697, ships were constructed in Virginia by Bristol merchants who were influenced to build there by a consideration not only of the fine quality of the timber, but also of the comparatively small cost entailed in the performance of the work.4

In the course of the same decade, several vessels were built by Virginians for their own use. Among them was a ship of forty-five tons, constructed for John West of Accomac, which was staunch enough to make a sea voyage. John Goddin of the same county also built a vessel,

1 Minute of a Committee for Trade and Plantations, British State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, No. 106, p. 305; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1681, p. 121, Va. State Library.

2 These petitioners meant entirely owned. See petition of the elder Nathaniel Bacon et al., British State Papers, Colonial Papers; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1681, p. 122, Va. State Library.

3 Minutes of a Committee for Trade, British State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, No. 106; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1681, p. 121, Va. State Library.

4 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 4. There is preserved in the records of York County (vol. 1694–1702, p. 272, Va. State Library), a document, to which Philip Popplestone, merchant, Charles Harford, linen draper, Edward Harford and James Peters, soap makers, all of Bristol, were parties, appointing William Jones, of that city, master of a ship in which the signers of the document "were or were to be part owners," the ship having been "built or to be built in Virginia."

5 Records of Accomac County, original vol. 1690-1696, f. p. 121.

which was twenty-five tons in burden. In 1695, a ship known as the Virginian was constructed by Daniel Parke, but on its first passage to England was found to be defective in its steerage.2

Among the principal shipwrights in Virginia in the seventeenth century were John Meredith, John and Robert Pritchard of Lancaster, Abraham Elliott, Richard Yates, and John Ealfridge of Lower Norfolk. Meredith was in possession of large tracts of land which he had acquired by purchase or by original grant. The estate of John Pritchard was appraised at four hundred and eighty-two pounds sterling, exclusive of all tobacco due him. This last item. amounted to 101,307 pounds. Ealfridge devised a plantation to each of his two sons.5 The estate of Richard Yates was valuable in personal and real property alike. Elliott was an owner of lands both in Virginia and England.

1 Randolph MSS., vol. III, p. 304.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1694-1702, p. 228, Va. State Library. 8 For one tract, 560 acres, obtained by patent, see Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1652-1657, p. 134. A sale of 600 acres by Meredith is recorded in Ibid., original vol. 1655-1702, p. 19. In 1652, he contracts to build a sloop and a small boat in payment of a debt, due by him, for 47,632 lbs. of tobacco. See Ibid., original vol. 1652–1657, p. 25. 4 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 19.

5 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. pp. 16, 50. Ealfridge was also at one time in possession of a half interest in a mill; see Ibid., original vol. 1666–1675, p. 170.

6 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1666-1675, p. 9. Among other shipwrights residing in Lower Norfolk County, who were owners of land, were Nicholas Wise, John Creekman, Isaac Seaborne, John Tucker, Quintillian Gutterick, Roger Houseden, Edward Wilder; in Rappahannock, Simon Miller, who, on one occasion, bought 625 acres in one tract (Records of Rappahannock County, 1668–1672, p. 139, Va. State Library), John Griffin; in Lancaster, William Edwards; in Northampton, Walter Price, Christopher Stribling; and in Elizabeth City, George and Jacob Walker.

CHAPTER XVIII

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES: DOMESTIC –

continued

It was in glass-making that the first step was taken in Virginia to promote manufactures in the wider sense of the word. The explanation of this fact lay in the necessity of providing a large quantity of beads for the use of the settlers in their trade with the Indian natives. There was doubtless a subordinate expectation that Virginia might be able to export raw glass for the English market. One of the most serious obstructions in England to all forms of manufacture involving the consumption of much fuel, was the growing scarcity of wood in consequence of the heavy inroads on the forests. This was felt most severely in the manufacture of iron, but it was also felt in glass-making. The abundance of trees in Virginia was thought to be a notable element of success in the manufacture of this latter commodity in the Colony. When Newport arrived in Virginia in the fall of 1608,1 he was accompanied by a number of Dutch and Poles, who formed a part of the Second Supply, the object for which they had been sent out being, among other things, to make a trial of glass. A glass-house was accordingly erected about a mile from Jamestown.2 The first material of this kind was made during the absence of Newport on his excursion into the country of the Monocans, and it was made under the supervision of Smith; when New1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 434.

2 Ibid., p. 467.

port returned to England, he carried with him as a portion of his cargo, the specimens of glass which had been thus produced. In the spring of 1609, the manufacture was continued with success.2 During the memorable Starving Time following on the departure of Smith from the Colony, the work which had been in progress at the glass-house must have ceased entirely. Nothing more was heard of glass manufacture in Virginia until 1621, in which year there was an effort to reestablish it on a permanent footing.

In 1621, the Company entered into a contract with Captain William Norton, who had decided to emigrate to the Colony with his family, under the terms of which he was to carry over with him four Italians skilled in glass-making, and also two servants, the expense of transporting these six persons to be borne by him, while the Company was to furnish their general equipment. In the course of three months after his arrival in Virginia, Norton was required to erect a house for the manufacture of every variety of glass. The privilege of exclusive manufacture was to be enjoyed by him during a period of seven years, and he was expected to give not only his personal superintendence to the work, but also to instruct apprentices in the art of making glass. As a reward for this, he was to receive one-fifth of the moiety of the product reserved for the Company and was to be allowed in addition, four hundred acres of the public land. It was expressly provided that no beads were to be retained by Norton, for these could only be useful as a medium of exchange in the Indian trade, in which the Company alone had the right to engage.3

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 441.

2 Ibid., p. 471.

8 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,

p. 130.

The contract with Captain Norton was reconsidered at a Quarter Court convened at a later date. Attention had in the meanwhile been called to the fact that the Company was at this time in no condition to undergo the heavy charge of supplying eleven persons-the number constituting the band of Captain Norton with apparel, tools, victuals, and other necessaries, and of transporting them to Virginia. It appeared, moreover, that the calculation of the expense in the beginning had not been sufficiently accurate. It was decided to recommend the proposed manufacture to private subscribers, the Company, however, to advance one-fourth of the amount required to set the enterprise on a firm basis. The patent to be granted was to continue in force for a period of seven years, and was to include the right to make not only glass but also soda, as a necessary ingredient of that substance. Fifty acres were to be allowed for every person sent over by the private adventurers. A roll was drawn at the same court at which the proposition was broached, and received the signatures of the proposed investors. Having by this means secured the fund needed for the equipment of himself and his followers for the enterprise in which they were to engage, and to meet the charges for the ocean passage, Captain Norton, his family, and workingmen set sail for Virginia. There he succeeded in erecting a glass furnace. Unfortunately, Norton died, and the Treasurer, Sandys, who had been appointed to take his place in that event,2 came in charge of the works but soon met with disappointment, as he found it difficult to obtain the proper variety of sand. On one occasion, he sent a shallop to the Falls for a supply,

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I, p. 138.

2 Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 236.