William Beckwith
1571 to 1633William 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.
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| On right, replica of a thimble found at Jamestown |
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
1571Queen 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/
Hi Carlotta, you have a great blog and the article above is beautifully written and detailed. I am also a Beckwith descendant of Henry Beckwith I, who in 1669 took himself to Dorchester County MD for 50 acres of land and married the widow Elizabeth Skinner. But I have many questions regarding this Henry being the son of William Beckwith, tailor in Jamestown. No one seems to have any citations regarding Henry's birth to William and his wife, except for the information in the book "Beckwiths in America" The author makes a lot of claims without any documented citations required for genealogy purposes. You cannot become a member of the Jamestown Society without more proof than the claims made in the Beckwith in America book. Several members of the society have done research for me and said they is no listing of William after the Staving Times, he is not listed in the 1624 census King James I required of everyone in Jamestown and up and down the James river, and Henry is not listed either. The claims that Henry was born abt. 1619 seem hard to prove since no one has any record other than the Beckwith book. I have a lot of genealogy on Henry I after he took himself from Surry or Westmoreland County in Virginia and his will was proven in 1717. I live in Laurel, Md not far from Annapolis and have done research our our Henry in he Maryland State Archives. Hard to believe he lived to be almost 100 years of age back then and would have been in his middle 50s when he married and started to have children (Henry II and Nehemiah). I would love to be able to prove we are descended from William and be able to join the Jamestown Society, but it does not seem likely to happen. If you have other citations for William and Henry please share. I am a descendant from Henry and Elizabeth Skinner Beckwith's son Henry II, then his son Henry III, then Amos, then Amos' son Willis, and then Willis' last son, Daniel Noon Beckworth born in 1898. Do you know Al Beckworth who lives in SC? He is also a descendant of Hansel. He has a lot of genealogy he shares with anyone interested and a great MyHertiage website. Thank you for any other info. you may have. (if you use Find-A-Grave another descendant has some find a grave memorials, you can check out Henry's. His memorial number is: 69259111 from there you can follow the links on down. Take care and thanks.
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