William Beckwith 1571 - 1633

William Beckwith

1571 to 1633

 William Beckwith was born August 15 in Clint located in the northeastern portion of England's Yorkshire County.  Today, Leeds is the largest town in the area.  Clint is north of Leeds.

William's parents were Marmaduke Beckwith and Anne Dyneley.   In 1597, Marmaduke and his family moved 35 miles to Featherstone  south of Leeds but still in Yorkshire County.  The Beckwiths had traditionally lived in northeast Yorkshire and there is even a village, Beckwithshaw, that bears the family name.

On October 4, 1607, at the age of 36, William boarded the first supply ship to Jamestown in the colony of Virgina.  The ship arrived January 2, 1608, about eight months after the first settlers arrived arrived on May 13, 1607.  He was one of six tailors that came over on the first supply ship that carried 73 colonists.

We don't know much more about William Beckwith other than his profession.  We don't know why he made this incredibly bold decision to move to an unknown world likely to never see his family again.  Only 60 of the original 214 settlers survived the starving winter of 1609-10.  As if starving wasn't enough, the Algonquin Indians frequently attacked.  George Percy became colony leader after Capt. John Smith went back to England in 1609.  He proved inept and could not build relations with the Indians, thus endangering the colonists. 

On right, replica of a thimble found at Jamestown

William Beckwith was not on the 1624 census of Jamestown but he could have returned to England and then back to Jamestown during that time. Some researchers believe that in 1616,  William Beckwith married the daughter of John Baskeville and in 1619, they had a son, Henry Beckwith. However there does not seem to be clear documentation of either of these occurrences. The year of 1619 was also an important year in the history of Jamestown.  The first legislative body in America was formed there to address the Colony's first labor strike.  Slavery also came to Jamestown in 1619.

Unfortunately, few marked graves now exist from the early years of Jamestown.  At the time of this writing, only 26 of the estimated 3,000 found buried at the Jamestown site have been identified.  William Beckwith is listed in some research (with no documentation) as passing away in Jamestown in 1633. There is documentation that Henry Beckwith, possible son of William, moved to the colony of Maryland from Jamestown in 1669.

For more information on Jamestown, please visit the Jamestown website.  Even better, visit in person.  If you are a descendant, be sure to tell the staff that you are a descendant of one of the early settlers.

Pictured below is part of the 1617 foundation of the church in Jamestown.  

William and his family would have attended this church. 

This picture was taken December 2013 during a visit to Williamsburg and Jamestown.

Timeline of Important Events during William Beckwith's Life

1571
Queen Elizabeth I opens the Royal Exchange in London

1579
John Smith who was Jamestown's most famous leader, is born

1582
Pope Gregory XIII introduces the Gregorian calendar
Shakespeare marries Ann Hathaway

1584
The first of two British attempts to colonize at Roanoke North Carolina begun, they both failed

1603
Queen Elizabeth dies; James VI of Scotland is crowned uniting the two kingdoms 
Sir Walter Raleigh is sent to prison

1606
Virginia Company's first settlers leave London to establish Jamestown
Shakespeare's MacBeth first performed

1609
Galileo demonstrates his first telescope
Three Blind Mice first published in London

1619
First House of Burgesses in America at Jamestown
Slavery introduced to America at Jamestown

1620
Pilgrims arrive in America
French Huguenots declare war on French King Louis VIII
 First merry-go round seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey

1623
First American temperance law enacted, Virginia
 First breach-of-promise lawsuit: Rev Gerville Pooley, Va files against Cicely Jordan, he loses

1624
First submarine publicly tested in London on the Thames before James I

1633
Galileo goes on trial for saying the earth revolves around the sun
 Lord Baltimore receives charter for Maryland

 

Sources

Timeline:  www.historyorb.com/
The Beckwiths by Paul Beckwith - https://archive.org/details/thebeckwiths00beck
The Conquest of Virginia, the second attempt by Conway Whittle Sams -https://archive.org/details/conquestofvirgin1929sams
Jamestown Rediscovery Project - http://historicjamestowne.org/