In his 1873 newspaper statement about being the son of Thomas Jefferson and
Sally Hemings, Madison Hemings stated that his ancestor Capt. Hemings was
"captain of an English trading vessel which sailed between England and
Williamsburg, Va., then quite a port."  He is speaking about the 1730s.  Is
it correct to say that Williamsburg was "quite a port"?  Though Williamsburg
had a landing accessible from the York River by Queen's Creek, and I found a
reference to a "Comptroller of the port of Williamsburg" in 1773, I have
never heard Williamsburg described as a major port. This may seem like a
trivial point, but it is one of several assertions in Madison Hemings'
narrative that seem to be wrong and I am trying to pin them all down.

I am not trying to launch a general Hemings/Jefferson discussion, and if
anyone has any comments on that broader subject I will be happy to receive
them off-list.

Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville