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01398Virginia Lee Hutcheson Davis, "John Burrows, 1608, James City County,"
Tidewater VirginiaFamilies: A Magazine of History and Genealogy
, (February/March 1999).
[page 207]John BURROWES came to Virginia in October 1608 with the Second Supply, brought by Captain NEWPORT to the unfortunate Jamestown settlers.
1
Captain NEWPORT also brought to the colony, two women;the first in the colony. Mrs. Thomas FORREST
2
, the wife of a settler and her maid, Ann BURRAS.
3
there isnothing to indicate that Ann and John were related, nor is there information that they were not.Robert GAILE had financed the venture of John BURROWS, and when he failed to receive a return uponhis investment he petitioned the Virginia Company in London to require BURROWS to give satisfaction.
4
John BURROWS remained in the colony and before 1623, married Bridget BUCK, the daughter of theReverend Richard BUCK.
5
Bridget arrived in the colony with her father and mother to find the colony in desperatestraits. Her father immediately took a position of leadership, and the colony would have relinquished thesettlement without his encouragement and the arrival of a relief ship.Richard BUCK was assigned 750 acres at Archers Hope near Jamestowne. He remained the minister of James Cittie Parish, but evidently died before the census of 1623.
6
His daughter, Elizabeth appears to haveremained in England
7
and his daughter, Bermuda had died before she reached Virginia. Bridget was the only childto make the complete voyage with her parents; however, subsequently there were four more children: Mara,Gercian (Gersham), Benoni ("son of my sorrow") and Peleg.
8
In the muster of February 16, 1623, John BURROWS and Mrs. BURROWS were reported
living at JamesCittye and with the corporacon thereof 
. Listed separately under "Living," and thus indicating a separate listing,was Anthony BURROWS, as an adult.
9
In 1624 John and Bridget BURROWS were living at his plantation, "Burrows Mount" (or Burrows Hill)on the south side of the James River in what became Surry County.
10
The plantation was in the tenure of JohnSMITH and lay adjacent to land patented by Isabel PERRY, the wife of William PERRY. It was also adjacent toPace
=
s Pain,
11
just down river from Flower Dew Hundred and Brandon. Their lives were inextricably entwinedwith Bridget
=
s family, as Mara BUCK was counted with them in the muster of 1624.
12
John also had six of hismen planted
13
with him, along with their arms and provisions.
14
There was no mention made of any children.[page 208]In 1626 John petitioned the Council for permission to
 seat himself upon the neck of land near James Citty[Jamestowne] in order to care for the cattle due Mara BUCK, his ward, daughter of Richard BUCK 
. Permissionwas granted and the BURROWS thereafter were seated upon BUCK lands.
15
John did not long survive, for he wasfatally stabbed "in the belly below the navel", on 1 January 1627/28, by William READE, a fourteen year-oldlaborer, who was convicted of manslaughter, but pled benefit of clergy (he could not be prosecuted). This incidenttook place at the house of Benjamin JACKSON, at Blunt Point in Warwick.
16
Bridget BURROWS married, secondly, William DAVIS and then, John BROMFIELD. These marriagescan be established through a land grant to John BROMFIELD, 15 December 1656, for 1200 acres at the head of Archer 
=
s Hope Creek in James City County.
17
John and Bridget BURROWS had no children by January 1624/25, as evidenced by the census of thatyear; they may have had a child later in 1625. By the time of John
=
s death in 1628, it would seem that they wouldhave had no more than three children. No mention has been found of children of Bridget and her husband, John BURROWS; which does not preclude the possibility of their having had children. There are no early records of James Citty and James CityCounty extant. Any reference to the orphans of John BURROWS, if there were any, would of necessity be foundamong other court or crown records and such information is difficult to extract.There are, however, tantalizing references in the land patent records; Matthew BURROWES was claimedas a headright of William DAVIS in 1639 when he patented land on Archer 
=
s Hope Creek.
18
In 1656 Matthewwas claimed as a headright of John BROOMFIELD.
19
Christopher BURROWS patented several parcels of land in Lynhaven Parish in Lower Norfolk County between the years 1636 and 1651.
20
He claimed as headrights his brother, William and his sister, Ann. This initself does not link Christopher with John and Bridget BURROWS; however, a later entry in the land patentrecords names Benoni as the son of Christopher BURROWS.
21
The entry describes land patented by Benoni as due
22003813.doc Page 1 printed 12 September 2009
 
him as heir to his deceased father, Christopher BURROWS (1667 and 1671). Given the naming patterns of thecolonial period, and the unusual nature of the name, one may speculate about the relationship. However, adefinitive relationship to John BURROWS has not been found.An entry in the Lower Norfolk County records (1654) reveals the information that Christopher BURROWS had other children; however, they are not named. Christopher died in 1652, leaving his childrenunder age, the document stating that a specified amount of tobacco was to go to the six children of Christopher [page 209]BURROWS, their brother 
=
s (Benoni) one-third being satisfied along with the land untouched.
22
A second tantalizing series of entries in the records provides no additional answers. AnthonyBURROWES held land in tenure on the east side of Blunt Point Creek adjacent to John LEYDEN (LAYDON) inDecember of 1628.
23
It would seem that he was a contemporary of John BURROWS and it is of interest that thelatter died on Blunt Point that same year. It is also interesting that Anthony owned land adjoining that of John andAnn BURRAS LAYDON at that time.The next record that has been found concerning an Anthony BURROUGHS is found in the orphans courtrecords of York County, dated September 25, 1655.
24
Land formerly conveyed by Mr. Jos. CROSHAW to Anthony,Robert and Mary BURROWES, children of Robert and Grace BURROWES, shall be enjoyed equally between thesaid children. At the August 25th court in York County in 1662, Anthony BURROUGHS, an orphan, was judgedto be twenty-one.
25
He was thus born in 1641 and his father had died before 1655 when the entry was madeconcerning the land. In 1659 Reynold HENLEY presented a list of a part of the estate of Anthony BURROWS(orphan) to the court.
26
 No earlier information has been found concerning Robert BURROWES, no land patent or any courtrecords to associate him with the earlier Anthony BURROWES; although, the naming patterns of the time wouldsuggest a relationship. It is clear, however, that Robert BURROWES did not have a son, John living at the time of his death.Anthony BURROWS was living in St. Peter 
=
s Parish in May 1689, as he was included in the listing of  processioners at that time.
27
John BURROSS was also living in St. Peter 
=
s Parish in May 1689 and was amongthose several landowners living in Pamunkey Neck.
28
The two men were not close neighbors.
29
At no time werethe two men named together in the parish records, and the vestry minutes indicate that Anthony certainly neededthe assistance of a family later in his life. From the extant records no relationship can be established between thetwo men.The associations of time, places and persons certainly lead one to feel that there must have been familyties among John BURROWS of "Burrows Hill" and Blunt Point, Ann BURRAS LAYDON and AnthonyBURROWS of Blunt Point. The relationship of these early settlers to later BURRUSS settlers in the colony has not been found. A relationship of John BURROSS of St. Peter 
=
s Parish, Pamunkey Neck, with earlier BURROWESin the colony of Virginia has not been established. It can be discounted, in some instances, either by the fact thatthe records show that he was not the offspring of that BURROWS, or the time constraints are such that therelationship could not have been that of father and son.Anthony BURROWS was stricken blind and he and his wife were "very ancient" in 1696
30
when Anthony petitioned the St. Peter 
=
s parish vestry for maintenance.[page 210]He said they were incapable of getting their living. The church wardens offered to keep Anthony and his wife, if he would convey his plantation, cattle, horses and hogs to the parish. The vestry agreed to allow them each 500 pounds of tobacco and cash for their maintenance during their natural lives or until Anthony may recover hiseyesight.For sixteen years, or until April 1712, the church wardens included the 1000 pounds of tobacco in their  parish levy, due the persons who kept Anthony and his wife. They gave James TATE thirty-five pounds of tobaccofor making clothes for Anthony. They allotted 1275 pounds of tobacco to Capt. John LYDDALL for takingAnthony in his sloop to the springs in Maryland. Anthony died before April 22, 1712, when the church wardens of St. Paul
=
s Parish ordered that the estate of Anthony BURROWS, lately deceased, should be sold to the bestadvantage of the parish use.
31
John BURROS was living in Pamunkey Neck by 1686 and died there before 1705.
32
No documented
22003813.doc Page 2 printed 12 September 2009
 
relationship has been established between this John BURROS and the earlier BURROWS in the colony of Virginia.A further tantalizing use of the name Benoni, since it had the unusual translation of "child of sorrow", in the 1800sleads one to think again of the naming patterns. One wonders whether a BURRUSS connection to Benoni, the sonof Christopher BURRUSS may have migrated to the frontier of what was then New Kent County. A BenoniCARLETON was living in King and Queen County in the mid-1800s, and a Benoni LIPSCOMB was living inKing William County in 1812.
33
John BURROWES was living in the parish of St. James (James City County) when
an account of the land as it standeth in church books with the number of servants and Negroes, with the names of the owners thereof 
, wasmade. It was taken by the church wardens on December 20, 1679. He was credited with ten acres of land and two Negroes.
34
This John BURROWES may well have been the same John BURRUSS who was living in St. Peter 
=
sParish, New Kent County in Pamunkey Neck by 1686.
35
He was seated on 590 acres of land that had been grantedthe Pamunkey Indians, and this land came under question by the Council in June 1699. In listing John
=
s landholdings, the record showed he had been seated on the land for thirteen years.The Queen (Anne) of the Pamunkey Indians had been able to negotiate a grant from the crown to secureland to her people. It was found that they had then leased some of the land to white settlers. It was the task of thecommittee to decide what disposition was to be made of this land since a part of the agreement was that the Indianswould not lease the land. The settlers had ignored this agreement and continued to move north and west intoPamunkey Neck and the wilderness.The solution reached by the committee was to allow the settlers to keep the[page 211]land they had leased from the Indians for ninety-nine years. The land held by the Indians was adjudged to besufficient for their habitation.
36
By this means the Pamunkey Indians lost part of the land that had been grantedthem, but also, by virtue of the foresight of Queen Anne, the widow of Totopotomoy, they were able to keep landthat they hold to this day.On May 4, 1689, the church wardens of St. Peter 
=
s Parish ordered the parish into precincts for  processioning.
37
Each land owner was required to be present to walk the bounds of his land so that the boundarylines could be established and remembered in case of a land dispute. This was required every four years, and theyounger men were expected to be in attendance and pay careful attention to the boundary marks so the informationcould be handed down from one generation to the next.Among the persons ordered to procession and re-mark the bounds of each man
=
s land were theinhabitants belonging to the parish in Pamunkey Neck: Susanna PAGE, Thomas SPENCER, John BURROS, Mrs.GOOCH, William TURNER, James HENDERSON and Colonel JOHNSON.
38
This was the only entry found in the processioning orders that included the name of John BURRUSS.It would appear that John was living on the same land in 1699 at the time that the agreement was madewith the Pamunkey Indians. On April 25, 1701, he patented an additional 439 acres in Pamunkey Neck in St.John
=
s Parish.
39
While the patent identified the land as lying in King and Queen County, it was described as being on the west side of John
=
s Creek 
40
, and this, with the other identification, would place it in King WilliamCounty (formed in 1701 from King and Queen County). The land also lay adjacent to the land of the late WilliamWOODWARD and on Mrs. GOUGE
=
s line. John claimed his right to the land for having imported nine persons:Cha. BALEY, Eliza. HUGHS, Eliza. LINSEY, Elinor MASON, Mary SNIDELEY, Marshall CORE, JaneCOLLINGS, Diana NORFOLK and Robert BROOKES.The father of John BURRUSS has not been identified, from any land records, consideration of the timeframe, or from any associations of his in King William County. No record has been found of the wife of JohnBURRUSS. There were numerous land transactions among the BURRUSS brothers (sons of John) with nomention made of a widow
=
s dower rights. It is believed that the wife of John BURRUSS had died earlier.John BURRUSS deeded 100 acres of land, in St. John
=
s Parish, in August 1702, to his son, John.
41
Theland was described as the land on which he (the son) lived and lay adjacent to John BURRUSS (Sr.). ThomasBURRUSS deeded 100 acres of land on Jack 
=
s Creek adjoining WOODWARD, to Jacob BURRUSS on December 20, 1703.
42
Thomas, Jacob and Edmund, who were later identified in a land transaction in King William County,were also sons of John BURRUSS, Sr. In February 1705, Thomas BURRUSS of St. John
=
s Parish, King WilliamCounty deeded land to Jacob
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