1635 -- JOHN MOTTROM came to Saint Mary's County, MD about 1635, then migrated to Northumberland County, VA about 1640. Mottrom was probably involved with William Claiborne's venture in Maryland. Claiborne was born in Kent, England, in 1600 and came to the colonies in 1621. He was educated and from a family with good social connections. At first he was a successful tobacco farmer, but he soon became interested in the Chesapeake fur trade. He developed good relations with the Susquehannock Indians, who provided him with beaver furs that could be sold for a profit in England. Claiborne established a profitable trading base on Kent Island, not knowing that King Charles I of England would soon grant this same land to Lord Baltimore. William Claiborne, a member of the Virginia council, established a trading post on Kent Island just before King Charles I granted the colony of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. Kent Island was the first English settlement in Maryland. But he is known today for the fact caused a lot of trouble for Virginia's neighbor, Maryland. Since Kent island lies within the borders of what was later set aside as Lord Baltimore's province, it was therefore in dispute as to which territory should properly have jurisdiction. In 1631, William Claiborne, secretary of State in Virginia and a member of the Governor's council, established a post for trading with the Indians on Kent Island, off the mouth of the Chester River, with another outpost on Palmer's Island in the Susquehanna River, accompanied by Captain Smith. The Kent Island settlement grew to "120 men able to bear arms" and other inhabitants by 1638. John Mottrom was probably one of these early settlers. He was one the first to leave and was the first white settler to make a permanent home in what was to become Notrhumberland County, Virginia sometime between1635-1640. Northumberland County, Virginia was originally known as Chickacoan, an Indian district on the Northern Neck lying between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1648, the "Mother County of the Northern Neck" was organized and named Northumberland from the English County Northumberland, England. In 1648 the county was officially formed by an act passed by the Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia. It was later divided into three additional counties, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland Counties. Mottrom was a prime mover for the formation of the County of Northumberland, and was its first representative in the House of Burgesses in 1648. He was burgess again in 1652, and was also justice and Colonel of the Militia. He died about 1655. c.1635/36 -- NATHANIEL POPE was born in England between the years 1590 and 1600. The records of his life reveal that he was a practical man. His proclivities were mercantile. He was energetic, bold, exacting, insistent upon his rights, and conducted his affairs, adventurous though they were in America, with foresight and success. If the tax records are an index to his position in Maryland, he contributed more to the commercial success of that new colony than almost any man other than its Lord Proprietor. Nathaniel Pope, I., of England, settled in Maryland prior to 1637, Aged about forty years when he landed. There is no record in America showing the date of his arrival, in what ship he came, or the port of her departure from England. He is not named among the firstcomers of 1633/4, to whom the land at St. Mary's was apportioned, but he must have arrived there before January, 1637, when he was summoned to appear as a member of the Colonial Assembly of Maryland held on the twenty-fifth day of that month. As it was not until August 8, 1636, that Governor Cecil Calvert granted one hundred acres to every substantial man who came from England, another hundred acres if he brought a wife, and fifty acres for every servant and child under the age of sixteen (subject to the annual payment of ten pounds of wheat for every fifty acres), Nathaniel Pope's arrival at St. Mary's may be placed in the year 1635 or in the first half of 1636. He was a member of the Maryland General Assembly in 1648, and moved to Virginia in 1650. Part of his estate was "The Cliffs," which passed from the Popes to one Thomas Ley, ancestor of Robert E. Lee, the name of the estate changing to "Stratford." The bricks of which "Stratford" was built are said to have been a gift from Queen Anne. SOURCE: Bibliographic Information: Jennings, Kathleen. Louisville's First Families. The Standard Printing Co. Kentucky. 1920. c. 1643 ---THOMAS PETTY (PETIT/PETTUS) Born, circa 1608 (?), in Norwich, England. Died, 1663, in Rappahannoch Co., VA (will dated 20 Sep 1663 proved 7 Jan 1664). Immigration: circa 1643 (Left England in 1637; may have immigrated by way of the Bahamas). There were two THOMAS PETTYs (PETTUS/PETTIT) in Virginia at this time. The younger was our ancestor and the elder his uncle. Our ancestor arrived in America about 1643. His uncle, Col. Thomas Pettus Sr., was here before 1631. Col. Thomas5 Pettus (Sr.)was baptised 19 Feb 1597/8, in St. Simon & Jude. This Thomas Pettus, Captain, Colonel and lastly Councilor, established in America a prominent family of his name, and, by the marriage of his granddaughter, Elizabeth, to Dr. Arthur Hopkins, left many descendants of the first importance in the history of this country. But how came one of this family to America? About 1628 the Virginia colonies petitioned the London Company for assistance in their struggles with the Indians. Sir John Pettus had been a member of the company holding the 3rd charter to Virginia and probably for the sake of his relationship, Thomas Pettus, then serving on the Continent with Sir Thomas Dale in the Thirty Years War, was selected and sent over in command of forty men. From this time until his death, we find him frequently mentioned in Colonial records under the title of Colonel, and as being a member of the Virginia Council, 1641-60 (see "The Statutes of Virginia," William Waller Hening, pp. 238, 239, 371, 372, 376, 408, 431, 432, 504). In a manuscript of Edmund Randolph, Colonel Thomas Pettus is mentioned as one of The Council of States, whose session was held at "James Citie," March 15, 1659, during the administration of Sir William Berkeley, Knight, Governor and Captain-General of Virginia. Thomas was a Vestryman of Bruton Church, where a Memorial Pew was established to him. His Virginia home is described: Littletown, adjoining Kingsmill, in March, 1633, was the residence of Captain George Menifie of the Council, one of the greatest merchants of Virginia. Col. Thomas Pettus of Virginia was the 13th of the 17 children and the oldest was William, whose son, Thomas, was born in 1608. Just ten years between the two Thomases, uncle and nephew. Norfolk records, usually so clear and full, are vague as to when they left England. There was reason for this vagueness. One of them had been indicted for manslaughter in 1629. His father and a Sir William Denny (father-in-law?) accomplished his release. Then in 1631 he was again indicted for a felony. So his family sent him to "distant places." The genealogists stated that they had no way of knowing which Thomas Pettus it was, however, the uncle had been out of England for a while, serving on the Continent in the Thirty Years War. It seems clear that it was the nephew who was sent to distant places. He was the oldest son of an oldest son, and oldest sons did not leave England except for urgent reasons. The Thomas Pettus who came to Virginia by 1631 was a member of the Governor's Council in 1641 and was always prominent in the affairs of the Colony. The nephew was probably the Thomas Pettus, Jr., who came in 1643; his passage was used as a headright by Col. Pettus. Pettuses and their relatives and friends were all interested in the Virginia Colony. Sir John was a member of the Virginia Company in London, as were Samuel Sandys, Sir Nathaniel Bacon, Henry Rolfe, Robert Dabney, and one of the Dethicks - all Norfolk kin. Col. Pettus' aunt had married Robert Dabney, Alderman of Norwich. His cousin, Wil1iam, married Elizabeth Rolfe. It was in an old Pettus home that the Matoaka portrait of Pocahontas was found: she married John Rolfe. Another cousin of Col. Pettus married a granddaughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Shiffkey, Norfolk. Thomas Pettus (Jr.), our ancestor married Katherine Morris when he was around 47 years of age. She was about 15-16 years old. They had a daughter, Dorothy, who was about 6-7 years old when he died. Thomas, in his will, left some cows and all his land to his daughter. His wife was to have use of all his estate until Dorothy came of age. Katherine was pregnant when Thomas died in Sept, and his son, Thomas II, was born the following April or May. Katherine later married John Longe of King & Queen Co., VA. The child of this marriage, Katherine Longe (Long), married Edward Tungstall, and Richard Wyatt. George Morris, the grandfather of these three children must have realized that Thomas II would receive none of his father's estate and, in 1685, made a deed of gift, to Thomas Pettus and Katherine Long, of his rights to land that had been patented to, him and to Katherine's father John Long. The land that Thomas Petty (Pettit) left to his daughter, Dorothy, apparently came into the hands of Katherine Morris and her third husband, Thomas Gains. Essex Co., Court records of 1693 show a dispute between Dorothy and her husband, James Fugget and Thomas Gains, over this land. One of the complaints lists Dorothy as, "Daughter and Devisee of Thomas Pettitt, late of RAPPA: Co." The following was crossed out: "James Fugeet & Dorothy as Marrying Dorothy Pettis & Legatee to Tho: Pettis." Thomas Gains pleaded that the Writ did not match the documents and the complaints were dismissed. Perhaps the names, Petit, Pettus, Pettit, Pettis, Pettitt all used by the same people were confusing to the court as they are to me. In 1698, Thomas Pettis (Thomas II) and his wife Rachell sold land and Dorothy Fuget (his sister) entered a claim against the land involved. Her attorney was Richard Wyatt. Was he the ex-husband or son of Katherine? Thomas and Katherine's children: i. Dorothy7. Born, circa 1656 (?), in New Kent Co., VA. ii. Thomas Petty II (Pettus/Petit). Our ancestor.