Chaptre, The 43rd - Lyffe in the Isle of Wight Countie
So, then, in aboute the tyme of The Year of Our Lord
1650, things were going my waye and my decisione to come to Virginia was the
correcte one.
I was doing welle and was living in the area of what
is nowe the towne of Smithfield, Virginia, a wonderfull towne full of all sorts
of merchants, trades men, service companies and farmers. Many in Smithfield who
did not worke in tobacco had begun to raise hogs for ham. The woode smoked and clothe
sacked Smithfield hams wente from being a locale delicacy to one enjoyed the
worlde over.
As an English Normand with French heritage, I was
very partial to locale, smoked, Smithfield style of ham, as I not only loved to
eat it, it reminded me of my ancient name in yet another way.
From Foljambe, we nowe knowe the French jambe means “leg” in English. Also in
French, jambon means “ham” in
English, as the ham hock is the back leg of the poore, deceased – but delicious
– piggie.
Aboute this prosperous tyme for me, I had begunne to
falle for the indentured servant whom had made the first crossing to Jamestowne
with me, the comely and very sweet Martha Greene.
Yes, love came to me againe later in life. A lucky
man I did consider myself, as Martha and I were married in The Year of Our Lord
1655 and our son, Anthony, was borne soone after in Isle of Wight Countie, Virginia,
as was my son Michael, within one yeare, in The Year of Our Lord 1656. Young Nicholas was born about one year later, in The Year of Our Lord 1657. Nearlie a decade after Nicholas arrived, lovely little Mary Foljambe
was born, in The Year of Our Lord 1667.
My muche older, surviving son, whose mother was my
first wife, Elizabeth, was named John. He had been born in England, and by nowe,
helped me greatly, as he managed one thousande acres of farme lande for me and
the family, bothe.
Aboute that tyme, we also ap plied for a lande patente
onn this propertie in The Year of Our Lord 1655 at the Isle of Wight Countie
office of re cords. To this daie, if you are ever neare my towne of Smithfield,
Virginia, you can popp inn and see my name, or names in my case, on manie lande documents still duti fully kepte onn file
in the Isle of Wight Countie.
My family owned fields in this lovely Isle of Wight
Countie, which laye on The Black Water River’s small tributary, The Pagan
River. In truthe, the Pecan river, as Pegan is the Native American name for the
nutts that once grewe on trees, there abouts. We owned lande on the West
Branch, as well.
I had another patente approved by The Isle of Wight
Countie for five hundred acres there. This was farmed with tobacco and Native American
maize – you call it corn – and, as all my fields were carefully tended, always
produced greate yields for profite. Many English in Virginia began calling
maize “corn,” although back in England, barley was known as corn. Barley Corn
is what you knowe to be those little white kernels of graine you moderne folke
enjoy in your Scottish American Campbell’s vegetable soups.
It was on my acreage by the Pagan River – also known
as the Warraskoyak River – that I builte my home, the English style house that was truely my
castle in The New World. If you or your family ever visite the East of
Virginia, you can see exactly where my house stoode neare Smithfield. It was on
an outt crop of lande that pushes into the Pegan River called Red Pointe. Just
ask any locale, he or she wille directe you there, straighte away.
This lande where I was living was, as I mentioned,
to the South and about fifteen miles downriver from the Jamestowne settlement.
It eventually became the small towne of Smithfield, Virginia, as you nowe welle
knowe. In truth, I know not for whome the towne is named, as Captain John Smith
discovered the spote and people beganne moving there frome Jamestowne in The
Year of Our Lord 1634. The towne was not incorporated,
how ever, until The Year of Our Lord 1752, by another Smith, one Arthur IV.
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