Another interesting discussion of the 1600's in Virginia Deborah Byrd ----- Original Message ----- From: Deborah Byrd <dwbyrd@usa.net> To: <dbyrd@lightcom.net> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 8:35 AM Subject: Re: [Burned Record Counties: Some Implications] > "kukla" <kukla@lynchburg.net> wrote: > > The loss of records from all but one of Virginia's oldest counties has, I have > long contended (citations below), contributed to the mistaken belief that > early Virginia was a place of chaos. I strongly challenged this view in a 1985 > article (1) and have been pleased that a lot of more recent scholarship -- > historical and archaeological -- is confirming what some regarded, 15 years > ago, as a lonely and contentious point of view. > The work of the late Darrett and Anita Rutman on Middlesex and the late James > Russell Perry on the Eastern Shore were two of the first that supported my > argument. Here's the direct point regarding the burnt-records counties and > destruction of the general court records in 1865 (quoting from my essay about > Perry's book for the convenience of those who may not have back issues of > Reviews in American History at their fingertips): > "On the Virginia mainland, similar networks {[i.e. comparable to the society > Perry explicated on the early Eastern Shore} for the oldest settled areas > along the James and York rivers might have been reconstructed from records > sent to Richmond for safe-keeping during the Civil War. There, along with many > volumes of colonial deed, will, probate, and order books, most of the local > records from counties such as Charles City, Elizabeth City, Gloucester, James > City, New Kent, and Warwick burned when the Confederates evacuated Richmond in > April 1865. York County achieved a stable society between 1634 and 1660, but > the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation started its York County Project with the > 1660s and worked toward the nineteenth century because documents did not > survive in sufficient quantity for demographic reconstruction of the earliest > population. Time will tell {the review essay concluded}, but perhaps James > Russell Perry's conclusions about the Eastern Shore only seem atypical b! > ecause he escaped the snare of {W. J. Cash's myth {explained earlier in the > essay*}. The scarcity of evidence for other Virginia localities suggests that > we pay attention to what he {Perry} painstakingly learned from the only extant > series of continuous local records from the first half century of English > settlement in the Chesapeake." {Reviews in Am Hist vol 20 (1992) p. 301.} > > *The Perry essay makes a parallel asserting that patterns of genealogical > interest and publication created the impression of a demographic gap in the > second quarter of the 17th century that, in turn, bolstered the chaotic > interpretation of early Virginia one associates with the influential 1957 > essay by Bernard Bailyn and its parallels to W. J. Cash's Mind of the South. > In this respect, the Perry essay amplifies the argument of the AHR essay. -jk > > Regarding the records lost in the General Court fire, 170 years ago, Conway > Robinson, a founder of the Virginia Historical Society (one of several centers > for Virginia history), compiled a lengthy memorandum of the records then held > by the court. I edited and published that Memorandum as an appendix to a new > edition of H.R. McIlwaine's Minutes of the Council and General Court (citation > below). Library of Virginia may still sell copies of the 2d edition. There are > three good reasons for serious libraries or scholars to have the 2d edition > even if they are fortunate enough to own the 1st edition: The 2d edition has > several appendices of supplementary material, the 2d edition is printed on > acid-free paper whereas the 1st edition copies are brittle and shreading, and > I printed the 2d edition slightly small than the 1st and it is actually easier > to read. These three considerations also apply to the Library's reprint of > McIlwaine's Legislative Journals of the Council. The only dr! > awback with these volumes is that one must get past my prefaces to them. > > > Citations: > 1. "Order and Chaos in Early America: Political and Social Stability in > Pre-Restoration Virginia," American Historical Review 90 (1985): 297-298. > 2. "Perry on the Eastern Shore," Reviews in American History 20 (1992): > 297-302. A review essay about James Russell Perry, The Formation of a Society > on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1615-1655 (Chapel Hill and London, 1990). > 3. Winterthur Portfolio 20 (1985): 292-295: . A review essay about Darrett B. > Rutman and Anita H. Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, > 1650-1750 (New York, 1984) and Stephen Saunders Webb, 1676: The End of > American Independence (New York, 1984). > 4. "Memorandum of the Records in the General Court Office [in 1829]" and > "Copies of the rules of Court from 1691 to 1775," in Henry Read McIlwaine, > ed., Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, (2d ed., > Richmond, 1979), 537-544, 601-607. > In general # 1 above and Political Institutions in Virginia, 1619-1660 in John > Murrin, ed., Outstanding Studies in Early American History (New York, 1989) > and "The Chesapeake Colonies," in Jacob Ernest Cooke et al., eds., > Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (New York: Charles Scribner's > Sons, 1993), 1: 188-201. > > > > -- > Jon Kukla....................... Executive Vice-President and CEO > 1250 Red Hill Road ........... Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation > Brookneal, Virginia 24528 .. www.redhill.org .... 804 376-2044 > 804 376-4172 > -- > > > ____________________________________________________________________ > Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1 >