John
Chandler 1600 - 1660
My 9th Great-Grandfather – David Arthur
John Chandler, believed to be the John, son of John,
christened at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, England on September
7, 1600.
See a copy of John Chandler's christening record. – https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/Chandler/johnchandlerchristening.pdf
St. Margaret's Church stands between Westminster Abbey and
the Houses of Parliament. The present church was consecrated in 1523, making
this the very building in which John Chandler was baptized. It may prove to be
significant that the church in which John was baptized was located in the most
powerful political area in the whole of England.
On February 28, 1609, Thomas West, Lord Delaware, was named
Governor of the English Colony in Virginia.
Recent reports of the dismal condition of the small Jamestown settlement
there accelerated Delaware’s plan to go to Virginia to take personal charge of
the colony. In early March 1609, he departed London for Virginia.
Until 1752, the New Year began March 25. So it was the year
1610 (although only a couple of weeks later) when Delaware, aboard the flagship
De-la-Warr rendezvoused with the Blessing of Plymouth and the Hercules of Rye
at the Port of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Even though Delaware had restricted the passengers – no
women or children allowed – nine-year-old John Chandler was aboard the
Hercules. No records have been found to document any relative of John Chandler
among the three ships in Delaware’s fleet, nor in the Virginia colony at that
time. However, given Delaware’s passenger restrictions, it seems likely that
little John was in some way closely connected to someone deemed essential to
Delaware’s enterprise.
From Cowes, the fleet set sail westward on April 1, 1610.
After 12 days under good sail, the fleet reached the Azores Islands. The next
morning a gale pushed the ships to Graciosa Island where they anchored, but on
the 15th high winds separated the Hercules from her sister ships. Having lost
sight of Hercules for several hours, Delaware ordered the De-la-Warr and
Blessing to proceed toward Virginia. Unknown to them, the Hercules was behind
them, just beyond the horizon.
On June 6, 1610, the two lead ships dropped anchor at Point
Comfort and went ashore. Hercules came over the horizon in the early forenoon
and joined the two lead ships. On Sunday, June 10, 1610, the fleet arrived in
Jamestown. After months of cramped living, John Chandler stepped off the
Hercules onto Virginia’s soil. Thus he became — at nine years old — the
youngest known immigrant to arrive that early in the colony.
Given his age and the fact that 75% or more of the
colonists who came to Virginia during the Virginia Company years (1606-1624)
either did not survive or returned to England, John’s survival and prosperity
makes one of the great stories of the early years of Anglo-American
colonization.
Documents of the time period between 1610 and 1622/23 do
not mention John Chandler. It is not until the "List of the Living and
Dead in Virginia" was compiled in February 1623/24 that John Chandler is
mentioned again. He was recorded at that time as a single man living in Elizabeth
City County. By his 21st birthday (1622), he was caught up in the Massacre of
1622, during which native indians killed fully a third of the English settlers.
Elizabeth City was first settled about 1610 when Lord
Delaware moved the newcomers into two small forts - Ft. Henry and Ft. Charles -
near Kecoughtan and Point Comfort. Delaware’s plan was to isolate new arrivals
while they adjusted to the heat of the Virginia Coast. Today this area is the
city of Hampton, Virginia. John Chandler was in the same places at the same
time as William (Mayes) Mease, my ancestor of my father’s family. https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/WilliamMease.pdf
The next mention of
John Chandler appears in the census of February 1624/25, where he is listed as
a “servant” to Thomas Willoughby. The word “servant,” as used here, denotes
what we know today as an employee, rather than indentured in the practice of
the period.
Muster of the inhabitants of Virginia at Elizabeth Cittie.
Ensign Thomas
Willoughby, his muster:
Servants:
John Chaundler aged
24 in the Hercules 1609
Thomas _______ aged
20 in the Greate Hopewell 1623
Robert Bennett aged
24 in the Jacob 1624
Nicholas Davis aged
13 in the Mariegould 1616
Provision: Corne, 16 barrels; fish 200 ct; houses, 3;
pallizado, 1.
ARMES: Pieces, 4;
pistolle, 1; swords, 3; Armors and Coates, 4; powder, 5 lb; lead, 150 lb.
Thomas Willoughby's household appears to have been a sort
of military encampment consisting of five men who had full arms and suits of
armor. Willoughby, the nephew of a heavy investor in The Virginia Company, had
arrived in Jamestown a few weeks after John Chandler. It is surmised that he
and John became friends since they were the same age. Willoughby was only 10
years old when he arrived in Virginia.
The muster record documents John Chandler's age as 24 in
February 1624/25. It indicates his arrival in Virginia on the ship Hercules
occurred in 1609. This date is in error or perhaps arose from the precise
nature of the question being asked of the colonists. Research shows that the
Hercules did not arrive in Jamestown until the year 1610 as the third ship in
Delaware’s fleet.
A “Charter of Orders" in 1618/19 authorized land
grants to those surviving early settlers who had arrived in Virginia before
Governor Gates’ departure to return to England in 1616. It has been widely
assumed that John Chandler was one of those survivors, and he has been
designated and accepted as an “Ancient Planter." But there is no proof of
this, and, in fact, he was not one of the signers of a 1624 letter that says it
contains the names of all the “Ancient Planters now living in Virginia.”
Another Ancient Planter was Lieut. Albiano Lupo, a member
of The Virginia Company who came to Virginia in 1610 and settled in Elizabeth
City. He died shortly before October 20, 1626 - the date his will (now lost)
was offered for probate. His widow, Elizabeth, was just 29 years old. Their
daughter, Temperance, was only six.
Not long thereafter, John Chandler married the widow
Elizabeth Lupo. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Bassano, the daughter of Jerome
Bassano. https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/JeromeBassano.pdf
Elizabeth Bassano
Lupo’s late husband’s considerable estate, consisting of goods, servants and
land, was most likely left to her in fee simple, which meant she owned it
outright, without restrictions. She also had 50 acres of land, patented in her
own name on September 10, 1624. Thus the land of both Albiano and Elizabeth
Lupo came into the Chandler family, where some of it remained until at least
1806, into the 7th generation of descendants. John and Elizabeth’s first son,
John, Jr., was born about 1627/28. A second son, Robert, was born about
1629/30.
By 1632 John Chandler was farming land that he owned or
leased. During this period, his fortunes advanced considerably. On July 6, 1636, he patented one thousand
acres in the general vicinity of Back River in Elizabeth City County. He
received 950 acres for transporting, at his expense, 19 persons into the colony
(the grant does not say this). The other 50 acres came through a grant for
"the personal adventure of my now wife Elizabeth." Since Elizabeth
was granted 50 acres in 1624 (presumably for her initial passage to Virginia
being paid by herself or her family), the additional 50 acres was most likely
for her having paid her way back to Virginia after visiting England. Of course,
she could have merely purchased a headright in Virginia in her own name -
perhaps between the death of her first husband and her marriage to John
Chandler. That’s all speculation, but her independence and her standing as a
woman doing business in her own name is noteworthy for the time. Located west
of Harris Creek and easterly toward Point Comfort Creek, John’s 1000 acres was
a prime location for incoming settlers.
Between 1632 and 1639, John bought Newport News from John
and Daniel Gookin, Jr. A large portion
of this land included a cattle plantation called Marie’s Mount. The bulk of the
tract lay in the long, narrow County of Warwick, which fronted the James River.
Tobacco wharves and warehouses lined the river’s deep-water docks. The Newport
News acreage along the Hampton Roads waterfront also included fresh water
springs where ships navigating the James filled their water casks. John later
sold the Marie’s Mount portion of the land to Capt. Benedict Stafford, perhaps
in the 1650s when his sons were forming their families.
By 1645, John Chandler had become a prominent man in the
small colony, with several thousand acres of land in his possession. Large
portions of the cities of Hampton and Newport News are parts of land once owned
by John Chandler.
He was elected twice to the House of Burgesses. During his first
term - 1645/46 - he played a role in three major tax law reforms: (1) wealthier
citizens were required to pay more property taxes; (2) the poll tax on those 16
and older was eliminated; and (3) frivolous lawsuits were barred.
Beginning in 1646 and until at least February 1657/8, John
served as a County Court Justice, the rough equivalent of both a county judge
and county commissioner today, exercising both legislative and judicial powers.
As such, he traveled with the Elizabeth City County Court to outlying areas of
the county - Accomac across the Bay and Norfolk across Hampton Roads. The last
surviving record of John Chandler is dated February 12, 1657/58 when he was
listed as present in a court proceeding in Lower Norfolk. His date and place of
death are not known; neither is the place of his burial. It seems likely that
he and Elizabeth lie in unmarked graves of the third St. John’s Church in
Hampton or perhaps on the 350-acre Chandler-Lupo tract, where a tentative
homestead has been located.
The John Chandler who was born about 1627/8 and some of
whose descendants lived on at least some of the Chandler-Lupo land until 1806
was his oldest son. Robert Chandler who died in 1669 in New Kent County is his
second son.
John is the only documented Chandler immigrant to Virginia
before 1620. Several Chandlers did arrive in Virginia between 1620 and 1630.
However, there is no documented proof they were related to the first John
Chandler who stepped off the Hercules onto Virginia’s soil in 1610.
First
Generation
John
Chandler
•Baptized September
7, 1600, St. Margaret, Westminster, London, England
•Sailed aboard the Hercules of Rye, the third and smallest
ship in Lord Delaware’s fleet on voyage to Virginia
•Arrived in Jamestown, Virginia on June 10, 1610
•Included in the "List of the Living and Dead in
Virginia" of February 1623/24 and in the census of February 1624/25
•Designated as an Ancient Planter
•Married circa 1626/7 Elizabeth, the widow of Lieut. Albiano
Lupo. She was born circa 1597; arrived in Virginia 1616
•First son - John, Jr. - born circa 1627/8
•Second son - Robert - born circa 1629/30
•July 6, 1636, patented a grant for 1000 acres at Harris
Creek, in Elizabeth City County (now Hampton), Virginia
•By 1640 owned Marie’s Mount, the former Gookin land at
Newport News, Virginia
•Elected to the House of Burgesses in 1644 and 1646
•Elizabeth City County Court Justice from 1646 until at
least February 1657/8
•Last mentioned in surviving records as present in a court
proceeding on February 12, 1657/58
•Probably died not long thereafter in Elizabeth City
County, Virginia
•Issue: John Chandler, born circa 1627/8
Robert Chandler, born circa 1629/30
Second
Generation
John Chandler II (John 1 Chandler)
•Born circa 1627,
Elizabeth City County, Virginia
•Died between January 28 and March 23, 1656/7, probably in
Northumberland County or Elizabeth City County, Virginia
•Married c. 1647 to Mary (possibly Tucker, daughter of
Capt. William Tucker), married second (?) Hinton
•Issue: Daniel Chandler, born before September 21, 1647
•John Chandler III, born circa 1650
Robert
Chandler son of John Chandler 1600 – 1660 (John 1 Chandler)
•Born circa 1628,
Elizabeth City County
•Will dated February 21, 1663; proved April 21, 1669, in
York County and almost certainly in New Kent County, where he last resided.
https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/Chandler/RobertChandler1628.pdf
Will is at the link above.
•Married circa 1651 to Elizabeth Davis
•circa 1660 settled on 300 acres near York Landing (now
Yorktown) in York County
•January 31, 1657/58 served on York County Coroner’s Jury
•January 24, 1660/61 freed Henry Warren; last record in York
County
•About 1661/62 moved to New Kent County, Virginia
•Issue: Presumably all born in York County, Virginia in the
1650s and early 1660s - date of birth not known for any child; neither is order
of birth:
William Chandler (eldest son according to will)
Robert Chandler, Jr. (second son according to will)
John Chandler
Francis Chandler
Mary Chandler
Third
Generation
Robert
Chandler (Robert 2, John 1 Chandler)
•Born York County, Virginia, died 1720, St. Peter’s Parish,
New Kent County, Virginia
•circa 1684 married Elizabeth Palmer
•Issue: (all born in New Kent County, Virginia)
Joell Chandler, born 1685 OR circa 1685
Robert Chandler, born May 30, 1687
Timothy Chandler, born October 17,
John Chandler, born January 11, 1693
William Chandler, born 6 June 1698
Joseph Chandler, baptized August 11, 1699
Elizabeth Chandler, born 1703
Fourth
Generation
William
Chandler (Robert 3, Robert 2, John 1 Chandler)
Born 6 June 1698
Married Elizabeth Virginia Frost
•Issue
Thomas Chandler (born in New Kent County, Virginia)
https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/Chandler/WilliamChandler1698.pdf
William Chandler Will and account is at the link above.
Fourth
Generation
Thomas
Chandler (William 4, Robert 3, Robert 2, John 1 Chandler)
Married Catherine ?
•Issue
Mary
Chandler married Vincent Inge, daughter Martha Inge married Samuel Skinner, son Samuel Skinner married Elizabeth Edmonds, daughter Sallie Ann Skinner married David
Overby, son James Washington Overby
married Martha Buttner, daughter Bertha
Overby married Edgar Arthur, son David
Arthur.
Parts of the information contained above are from the “The
Chandler Family Association”.
http://chandlerfamilyassociation.org/dna_group_7a.html
Download a pdf file of this page at
https://edavidarthur.tripod.com/Chandler/JohnChandler1600.pdf