The full content of this document is only available to subscribing institutions. More information can be found via www.amdigital.co.uk
If you believe you should have access to this document, click here to Login.
| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC00708 |
| From Archive Folder | Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Exploration and Settlement |
| Title | Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hovener regarding supplies from the London Company |
| Date | 13 January 1622 |
| Author | Brandt, Sebastian (fl. 1600-1625) |
| Recipient | Hovener, Henry |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Requests having the London Company send him supplies. Requests his nephew (the son of Phillip Brandt) be sent to Virginia from Derbyshire. Mentions Admiral of the Jamestown District John Pountis. Written in Elizabethan secretarial hand. Docket, in another hand, reads: "Sebastian Brands letter to Mr. Hojener 13 January }1622/1 That ther is Mynes of Gould and Silver and Copper in Virginia." It is unclear if the date is old style or new style. |
| Subjects | Immigration and Migration Frontiers and Exploration Global History and Civics Geography and Natural History Tobacco and Smoking Death Health and Medical |
| People | Brandt, Sebastian (fl. 1600-1625) |
| Place written | Virginia |
| Theme | Foreign Affairs; Health & Medicine; Merchants & Commerce |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | Early Virginia was a death trap. Of the first 3000 immigrants, all but 600 were dead within a few years of arrival. Virginia was a society in which life was short, diseases ran rampant, and parentless children and multiple marriages were the norm. In sharp contrast to New England, which was settled mainly by families, most of the settlers of Virginia and neighboring Maryland were single men bound in servitude. Before the colonies turned decisively to slavery in the late seventeenth century, planters relied on white indentured servants from England, Ireland, and Scotland. They wanted men, not women. During the early and mid-seventeenth century, as many as four men arrived for every woman. Why did large numbers of people come to such an unhealthful region? To raise tobacco, which had been introduced into England in the late sixteenth century. Like a number of other consumer products introduced during the early modern era--like tea, coffee, and chocolate--tobacco was related to the development of new work patterns and new forms of sociability. Tobacco appeared to relieve boredom and stress and to enhance peoples' ability to concentrate over prolonged periods of time. Tobacco production required a large labor force, which initially consisted primarily of white indentured servants, who received transportation to Virginia in exchange for a four to seven-year term of service. In one of the earliest surviving letters from colonial Virginia, Sebastian Brandt (fl. 1600-1625?), an early settler, casually describes the extent of mortality in the colony. He also shows that the search for precious metals persisted even after the colonists had begun to raise tobacco. "My brother and my wife are dead" Sebastian Brandt's origins are obscure. His name does not appear in any of the regularly consulted records of Virginia - he never served on any juries and was never an official of any kind. It is possible that he was of the Brandt family of shipbuilders of Topsham in Devonshire, England. It seems that Brandt was lured to Virginia by exaggerated reports of the gold and silver to be found there and that he spent at least a year there because of the references to his wife and brother, but no more than a year because of his comment about his illness. It is also possible that he could have arrived in 1619 when 1,200 settlers arrived at Jamestown. He could have died from this illness or he could have returned to England once he realized there was no gold. The reference to "Mr. Pontes" was to John Pountis (also spelled Powntis and Powntes) who was the Admiral of the Jamestown district. Pountis would have been responsible for receiving goods from England. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |