GROCER Thomas MOORMAN, Grocer of Warwickshire by Linda Sparks Starr SEP 1996 [If this sounds familiar, some parts first appeared in last May's MRMHDGPG.asc file. I am guilty of ignoring this earlier MOORMAN emigrant, but now think he may hold a key to our research. He's the only one whose residence at the time he left England is docu mented. Again, this is a group effort; I want to thank all who contributed, especially Mary Stewart who has been pressing his case. LSS] According to Dr. Lorand Johnson's article on the Scottish Mer chant James Johnston, among the passengers of the Bona Nova were: Navigator John CLARKE; "soldier" Thomas MOORMAN who went "in the companies service under the Command of Captain Matthews." (page 264 of Johnson's _... Caskieben, Crimond and Cayesmill_); John JOHNSON and John BOYCE, assumed brother of Sir Robert JOHNSTON and his wife Isobel BOYCE. (page 177 Ibid.) Now to what the records actually say. Mary Stewart provides the following from the _Magazine of VA Genealogy_, vol. 33, no. 1, page 3-11 (1995). They published a list of 92 indentured servants sent to work VA Company's public lands (out of 120 passengers) on the "Bona Nova" in 1619. The ship sailed 10 AUG and arrived in VA 4 NOV 1619. [For those of you who are wondering, a three month voyage was not unusual for the time.] The owner, captain and navigator ARE NOT NAMED. Neither does BOYCE of any spelling ap pear on the list; but then, the brother of a knight probably didn't come as an indentured servant. Indentured passengers in clude: #89 Thomas MOREMAN, age 30, grocer from Warwickshire #21 John JOHNSON, 32, husbandman for Nottinghamshire #55 John CLARKE, age 33, butcher from Oxfordshire "Thanks" goes to Paul Phelps for forwarding these specifics on Thomas Moorman from Susan Myra Kingsbury, editor, _Records of the VA Co. of London_, Washington: Gov't Printing Office, 1906. We've retained the original spelling; although out of chronological se quence, I present specific information on Thomas first. The peti- tion was presented at the 12 JUL 1620 meeting of the VA Co. Board. Note that Thomas had been in VA less than a year. "Thomas Moreman signified in his Peticion that hee went to Vir ginia in a ship called the bona Nova in the yeare 1619 in the Com- panies service wherin hee still remayneth under the Command of Captaine Mathews. Butt for so much as hee hath now sattisfied the Company the charge they have been att in placeinge him there as their Tennant, hee desyreth his freedome and withall that proporcion of Land as is usually allotted to others in the like kinde which request the Courte thought verie reasonable and did generally assent thereunto." (vol. 1, page 402) An earlier letter, #138 in the Ferrar Papers at Magdelene Col lege, Cambridge, is dated "James City 11 NOV 1619" from the Gover- nor and Council: "As Concerninge the Company of a hundred new men sent hither in the Bona Nova to become Tennants upon the Com panies land and the colledge land fifty under the Comand of Cap taine weldinge and thother fifty to be Comanded by Lieutennant witeaker because ther provision of victualles beinge but 544 bushells of English meale at ye moderatte allowance of two poinds of meale a day to a man would not last them above 5 Monthes and 14 dayes ... It was tought expedient by the governor and Counsell to ad vise the said two gentlement to rent out the greatest part of ther people to some honest and sufficient men of the colonie tell Cristmas Come twelve month for iii barrells of Indian Corne and 55 (pounds) waight of tobacco a man wch might abundantlie serve them for victualls and Apparrell for the yeare next ensuinge the expiracion of ther time when as they should returne to the publique busines and be able to instructe the other new Commers as they themselves had bine instructed ... yt is thought most Convenient to seat Captaine weldinge wth his remayinder at Harrowatox in Consortship with Captaine Math ewes, both for his ease in buildinge ther being two howes allready builte to his hand and for his securitye against Indians tell he have better strenthe and meanes to seatt upon the Col ledge land for wch purpose he went to the same place wth Captaine Mathewes on Tewesday Night Novemb 15: 1619" (vol. 1, page 226 227) "Mag. of VA Genealogy" says 25 men went with Captain Math ews, but it doesn't give their names. The College Lands were located on the north side of the James River between the "settlement" Henrico and the Falls of the James. [map page 97, _Chesapeake in the 17th Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society_, edited by Thad W. Tate and David L. Am merman, 1979. Sorry, I didn't note the publisher.] Mary Stewart reports Kingsbury (v. 3, page 262ff) transcribed another letter of interest to us. Written by William Weldon to Sir Edwin Sandys and dated 6 MAR 1619/20, Welden describes the journey on the Bona Nova, but mostly complains about the lack of "promised" provisions. The VA Co. record proves that Thomas WAS IN VA when he signed the petition; he also received land in exchange for his services. The big question is, what happened to him and the land? Did he sell the land and return to England with the profits? Did he marry and leave sons to inherit the property? Was it his land Zachariah came to in 1670? Or his land that another Thomas Moor man was living on in 1677? Was he the ONLY MOORMAN to emigrate prior to 1670? I am unaware of another recorded person with that surname -- the operative word here is "recorded". I was struck by the following comment about a pre-1700 New England practice when I came across it this summer. Page 51, Early Starrs in Kent and New England, by Hosea Starr Ballou, Boston:Starr Fam Assoc, 1944 says without citing his source: "By English custom title papers affecting real estate were usually not recorded in 'Proprietors Records' of the borough or township or in records at the shiretown." Continuing along this same line, but at least in VA records, Mary Stewart recently related one example of land passing within a family (father to eldest son then possibly to his son) on which there were no "recorded" contemporary deeds. She explained the first time deeds were recorded was years later when the land passed "out" of the family. Taking all this into account, along with the knowledge we're deal- ing with counties whose early deeds are not extant -- We cannot say with certainty that THIS Thomas Moorman DID NOT leave descen dants in VA. On the other hand, neither can we say with cer tainty that he DID. I think we should take another look at the index to vol. 1, Nugent _Cavaliers & Pioneers_. Here's two EX AMPLES ONLY where clerks or transcribers COULD HAVE changed MOOR MAN to a similar surname: Thomas MORE patent dated MAY 1623; Thomas MORLAND patent for land "now" York Co. 5 MAR 1648. I'm not saying either of these patents ARE for MOORMANS; I'm just saying we need to consider the possibility and look closely for and at other examples. What specifically do we know about THIS Thomas Moorman? He was a 30 year old grocer -- not soldier -- of Warwickshire, England in 1619. Thus he was born 1588 or 1589 depending on birth month; and "probably" he was born in or near Warwickshire, England. This makes sense, for Warwickshire is adjacent and just south of an area called "the west midlands". I BELIEVE this is the "moors" or grasslands where the name surely suggests ALL MOORMANs orig nate. We also know Thomas was a grocer by trade. Just what did this mean in 1619? I ASSUME grocer meant dealing with vegetables and food stuffs other than meats and cheeses? What skills would a grocer develop? We also know Thomas decided to make a major change in his life in 1619. According to Tate and Ammerman, English society late 16th and early 17th century was marked by a sharp increase in popula tion along with steep inflation which cut the purchasing power of wages. That's as good a reason for relocating as they come. Since he was a tradesman, I ASSUME he was a younger son who didn't inherit his father's land, or in this case, the store. Or perhaps he was a "clerk" in a grocery where the eldest son in herited the store/or is old enough to take over the "clerking" role in 1619. On a different front, but admittedly least likely -- did he own the shop and left his wife behind to run it while he checked out conditions in VA? All we really know about him is that, as a grocer, he couldn't save enough money to pay his own passage to VA. That brings us to the question -- Why VA? Was getting land part of the "up front" deal? Tradition developed that indentured servants received "something" when their period of service was over. But, how could the VA Co. pay Thomas's passage to VA and then give him land after less than a year of service? Remember this was a time when they couldn't even give long-promised land to their own stockholders. [see altlnpii.asc] And, when we take into account the ocean voyage back to England, Thomas had been in VA only four to six months when he signed the petition. Does this indicate he signed the indenture papers late spring 1619 and that his "service" to the Company began BEFORE he set foot in VA? By the way, what happened to the seven year indenture-ships I remember from my school days? One year seems pretty short to me. I know that later, a shorter time was given IF the skills of the servant were especially needed (e.g. teachers). For the life of me, I can't imagine what "grocer" skills were needed in VA in 1620? Turning now to page 176 Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the Nat'l Soc Colonial Dames XVII (1915-1975). It says the Thomas Moorman, landowner and Vestryman who died in 1647 in VA, married Elizabeth CLARK. It also indicates Zachariah Moor man was a landowner -- something we've been unable to cor roborate. Someone came up with enough evidence to convince the Colonial Dames that _a_ Thomas Moorman died in 1647 in VA. Is this Thomas the grocer? Is he the same Thomas Moorman whose bir thyear is given as 1593 by Spencer F. Tillman in Esse Quam Videri: The Family Record of the MOORMAN and Allied Families in America from 1620 to 1967? Where is any of this information found? Do they identify a name change in records we haven't? Are the Colonial Dames records worth checking? Some researchers say "the grocer" returned to England where he fathered Zachariah. Allowing nine months for a birth, we have to do something with Zachariah's birthyear; this Thomas was ob viously NOT in England during the necessary timeframe to *father* Zachariah b. 1620. Doug Tucker went into this in "Miscellaneous Moorman Tidbits" NOV 1995: "As for the mariner named Thomas Moreman who sailed to VA in 1619 on the Bona Nova and stayed on and subsequently (in 1620) requested his freedom and land share from The VA Co., I doubt he was the father of Zachariah Moorman. In the first place he sailed to VA in 1619 and did not return to England. Zachariah was reported born in 1620 and to have entered the English Army at age 19 in 1639 as an officer. Since army of ficers came from the English gentry, this is not a likely outcome for a young man if his father had sailed away as an indentured servant to America and never returned." Thomas is not listed among those who died in VA between APR 1622 and FEB 1623; nor is his name on the muster of 16 FEB 1623 or the muster of 1624-5. [_The Original Lists of Persons of Quality_ by John Camden Hotton, reprint 1962 GenPubCo from 2nd ed 1890.] This means he either died BEFORE the Indian massacre 1622, returned to England, OR was overlooked on one of the musters. The latter is possible, but not likely. Could he have been in England "on business" when one or both of the musters were taken and returned afterward? Not likely since no one claimed him for a "headright". Tate and Ammerman provide some interesting "food for thought" here. (Sorry, this from typed notes in which I didn't jot down specifics.) 70-to-85% of emigrants to the Chesapeake area in the 17th century came as indentured servants; they were usually be tween the ages of 15 and 24 with 20 and 21 the "mean". [Thus, the three examples from the Bona Nova were ten years older than "normal". Anyone want to speculate "why" and "what it means if anything" to our study?] Immigrant women didn't marry until mid 20s, although native born women were 16 to 19 when they married. Immigrant males didn't marry until late 20s, and in general, males lived only until about age 45. [Perhaps we should look again at some of the "supposed" ages for these people.] One last point which doesn't seem to "fit" anywhere, but ties in with the Bona Nova so I'll include here: According to Dr. Lorand Johnson's article on James Johnston, in 1619 the Alderman Robert JOHNSON was _personally responsible_ for sending the "Bona Nova" to Jamestown. Stated, but not stressed in the article, is the fact that the Alderman was a deputy treasurer of the VA Company. Isn't it more, or just as likely, he merely OK'ed the spending of COMPANY funds for the voyage, and not his own? And this just in from Tom Rightmyer re: Rev. George Keith. [see altlnpii.asc] He cites: Brydon _VA's Mother Church_, I:42; Good win, _The Colonial Church in VA_, page 284; Jester _Adventurers_, 53, 354; Brydon "New Light", Hist. Mag of the Episcopal Church 10 (1941): 86 n.33: George Keith b. c1585; ordained c1617; minister to 1635? d. ?1635 VA. (Keith, Robert) born about 1585. Minister in Bermuda. Came to VA 1617 in ship George, with son John who was born about 1613. Minister, Elizabeth City to before OCT 10, 1624, when he moved to be Minister of Martin's Hundred Parish. Claimed land as clerk and Pastor of Kiskiack (Cheskiack) Parish, York Co. July 9, 1635. Said to have been a Puritan.