Would you be interested in writing an article on headrights for the
/Magazine of Virginia Genealogy/? There is so much misinformation out
there, I would really love to have a single defining article.

Thank you for your previous kind words. I was in the middle of two
projects, but just couldn't stand the question going unanswered. We
really do need an article by someone who can take a reasoned and
knowledgeable approach which you obviously can.

Barbara Vines Little, CG
Dominion Research Services
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960

540-832-3473 (7-10 p.m.; all day Sunday)
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CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under
license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the
US Patent & Trademark Office.



Joe Chandler wrote:
> To the previous information I would add the following:
>
> (1) A headright does not necessarily mean that the
> person for whose passage was paid was an indentured
> servant. I seriously doubt that Adam Thorowgood was an
> "indentured servant," although he is described as a
> "servant" in the muster of Edward Waters in Jan-Feb
> 1624/5, having arrived in the "Charles" in 1621.
> Indeed, he was described as a "gentleman" when he
> bought 150A on the north side of Hampton Roads on
> December 30, 1626. His status was such that he married
> Sarah Offley, who was (as has been noted) the daughter
> of one Lord Mayor of London and granddaughter of
> another. Her father invested more than L100 in the
> Virginia Company ca. 1618/19, perhaps in response to
> the major change of administration of the Company that
> occurred then. I suspect Adam's status was akin to a
> clerk or aide-de-camp to Waters while Adam got
> acclimated to Virginia (going through one full year's
> cycle and surviving the climate and other threats to
> life).
>
> (2) Headrights were also awarded for persons merely
> visiting in the colonies -- it was the transit for
> which the headright was earned, even though not
> everyone transported stayed.
>
> (3) Headrights were also fungible, much like bearer
> bonds are today. They could be sold (and often were)
> by simple endorsement on the face or the back and
> sometimes passed through several hands before being
> redeemed. Ship captains also acquired headrights for
> transporting individuals for free, often to fill out
> the passenger spaces on their ships for later
> redemption (investments) and/or to provide a
> sufficient number of souls to meet contract
> requirements for which the captain had been advanced
> funds by a planter in Virginia.
>
> jc
>
>
>
> --- Douglas Deal <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>> Barbara's response nicely summarizes the
>> difficulties inherent in using
>> land patents and headrights for genealogical
>> purposes. The larger
>> historical significance of the system is pretty
>> clear, though. The idea
>> was to reward--with land grants--those immigrants
>> who paid for their own
>> passage to the colony and for that of others,
>> whether family members,
>> servants, or (for several decades, at least) slaves,
>> at the rate of 50
>> acres per person transported (self plus others).
>> Those whose passage was
>> thus paid did not get the land, except for a spell
>> in certain other
>> colonies, such as Maryland where it was part of a
>> servant's freedom dues
>> (until 1683, if I remember correctly). For most of
>> the colonies,
>> including Virginia, the headright system rewarded
>> the wealthiest with
>> even more wealth. In Virginia, it helped build a
>> landed elite that,
>> conveniently, was rewarded for bringing more labor
>> into the colony.
>> Political conflict in the decades before and after
>> 1700 revolved, much
>> of the time, around the abuses and inequalities that
>> the practices of
>> land distribution entailed. Anthony Parent's recent
>> book, Foul Means,
>> treats some of this story in detail.
>>
>> Doug Deal
>> History/SUNY-Oswego
>>
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