What about William Claiborne (1600-1689)?  His ingenuity, advocacy and 
support of the Virginia dream began early and lasted over half a century.  

Sponsored by his uncle Roger Smith, the Colony's Engineer, Claiborne was 
selectedin 1622 to be Surveyor of the Colony. At the age of twenty-two, he left 
his home in County Kent, England on his voyage to Vriginia.  During the next 
half century, William Claiborne . . . . . 

-        captained a ship that took supplies to the Pilgrims of New England

-        surveyed many of the original James River plantations

~     planned and set the metes and bounds of “New Jamestowne." 

-        erected the first windmill in Virginia at his seat on the Hampton 
River

~     founded a new Colony in the Chesapeake Bay and named it Kent Island for 
his home county in England

~    developed a thriving fur trading venture with Indians who paddled down 
the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake to trade with him or his associates 

~   appointed by King Charles I to serve as Virginia’s first Secretary of 
State
    
~   lost his Kent Island “plantation” when the Calverts obtained a 
conflicting grant from King Charles I

~   fought the earliest “naval” battle on the Chesapeake when his shallop, 
“The Longtail,” took on Leonard Calvert’s vessel in an indecisive battle over 
rights to Kent Island

~   served as Treasurer of the Colony of Virginia

-     led a militia unit that won ownership of land along the York River and 
its branches so that settlers were protected  

-     appointed Deputy Governor of the Chesapeake colonies by Parliament in 
the 1650s, serving with Richard Bennett, Governor

~   founded a new Virginia County which he named New Kent and built his home 
there 

~   fathered a vigorous family and thousands of descendants who continue to 
serve Virginia and other areas across the United States


If continuity  and constancy are values we cherish, few can match William 
Claiborne's service to Virginia throughout most of the 17th century.


Joyce Browning
Fairfax County, Virginia

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