Henry Bagwell (1589 - 1663)

Born 29 Oct 1589 in Exeter St Petrock, Exeter, Devon, England

Ancestors

Husband of Alice (Hawkins) Bagwell — married 1637 in Accomack, Virginia

Descendants

Died 28 Apr 1663 at age 73 in Northampton County, Colony of Virginia

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Biography

Henry Bagwell is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

Henry Bagwell was a Jamestown colonist.

Henry Bagwell^[1]

Arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, in May of 1610 on board the Deliverance, which, along with the Patience, was built with Bermudan cedar and recovered timber from the Sea Venture. ^{[2] [3]}

According to the Gantt/McAbee Family Tree:^[4]

•ID: P39419
•Death: 28 Apr 1663 in Northampton, Virginia
•Birth: 29 Oct 1589 in Exeter, Devon, England
•Name: Henry Bagwell
•Sex: M 1

Father: David Bagwell b: 1552 in Exeter, Devon, England
Mother: Joan Chapple b: 16 Oct 1568 in Morchard Bis, Devonshire, England

Marriage: Alice Hawkins b: 1605 in Suffolk, England

3 Children

1. John Bagwell b: 1640 in Matomkin, Northampton, Virginia
   
2. Thomas Bagwell b: 1642 in Matomkin, Northampton, Virginia
   
3. Rebecca Bagwell b: 1646 in Accomack, Virginia
   

Henry Bagwell was baptized October 29, 1589 at Saint Petrock’s Church at Exeter in Devon. In a deposition later given in 1633 he indicated he was from Devonshire or Somerset England. In June of 1609 he embarked on the flagship “Sea Venture” with a fleet of seven vessels and 500 to 600 new settlers intended to replenish the new settlement at Jamestown in Virginia.

On July 24th, the fleet was caught in a tremendous hurricane, lasting several days. The seams of the new flagship were forced apart by the waves and the ship began taking on water, eventually taking nine feet in the hold. Intentionally running the vessel aground on the reef off Bermuda, the crew and settlers reached the shore, where they lived for a number of months.

Eventually they constructed two smaller ships from timbers salvaged from the Sea Venture, and sailed to the struggling settlement at Jamestown, where they arrived in May of 1610. Arriving there on the heels of the infamous “starving time” from the winter of 1609 -1610, they found stores depleted, and in June all the settlers abandoned Jamestown to sail back to England. Waiting for the tide to turn at the mouth of the James, they encountered the first wave of Lord De Le Warr’s relief expedition, and everyone returned to Jamestown, which was to continue on.

By 1623 Henry Bagwell had moved a few miles upriver to West and Shirley Hundred, where he appears in the List of the living and Dead^[5] following the Massacre of 1622. He is included in the Muster of 1624/25 with his partner, Symon Turgis, as joint heads of household with ample provisions.^[6] Henry gave his age to be 35 years at this muster, confirming his birth year of 1589.

Henry Bagwell was an ancient planter.^[7] When a report of land owners was sent to England in May 1625, he was given credit for fifty acres of land at Charles City County.^[8] By 1629 he had moved back down the James and crossed the Bay, settling in Accomack County on the eastern shore. He served as a Member of the House of Burgesses in Jamestown representing Accomack County in 1629-30 and September of 1632.^[9]

Henry served as the first clerk of the County Court in the County of Accomack-Northampton, Virginia from 1632 to 1640. On 13 Aug 1639, Henry had 400 acres of land patented to him in Accomack County, on Old Plantation Creek and Johnny Boyes Branch, near William Berryman.^[10]

Before January 1st, 1636: Henry Bagwell married Alice (Hawkins) widow of Thomas Stratton, Daughter of Wm. and Ann Hawkins, who was born after 1604 in England. Henry left no will, and the date of his death is not known, but records show title to his land passing to his eldest son.^[11] Alice died prior to November 11, 1646.

Sources

1. ↑ Jamestowne Society: Bagwell, Henry - A308; born 1589, died 1663, Northampton Co.: 1630, 1632 (Burgess); (Ancient Planter). accessed 7 July 2020
2. ↑ Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, Martha W. McCartney,Genealogical Publishing Com, 2007
3. ↑ [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bmuwgw/seaventure.htm Wreck of the Sea Venture, 1609, Geni.com
4. ↑ Gantt/McAbee Tree - Henry Bagwell
5. ↑ List of the Living and Dead in Virginia
6. ↑ Jester, Annie Lash., Hiden, Martha Woodruff. 1883. Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia 1624/1625, Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1625: FamilySearch International, Title No. 2058494., p. 13.
7. ↑ Order of Descendents of Ancient Planters
8. ↑ Kingsbury, Susan Myra. The records of the Virginia Company of London Government Printing Office, 1906-1935, Vol. 4, p. 553.
9. ↑ Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard. The Colonial Virginia Register. Albany, N. Y.: Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers. 1902. Pages 56, 58
10. ↑ Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers. Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1666, Vol. I, Virginia State Library, Virginia Genealogical Society. Richmond, Press of the Dietz Print Co. 1934, page 112.
11. ↑ Jester, Annie Lash., Hiden, Martha Woodruff. 1883. Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia 1624/1625, Adventurers of Purse and Person and Their Families: FamilySearch International, Title No. 2058494., p. 75.

See Also:

• New (2021) book: The Henry Bagwell Story: English Adenturer, Virginia Planter (1589-1663) by Margaret A. Rice, published May 2021 by Secant Publishing, LLC, www.secantpublishing.com. (A must read for Bagwell descendants!)

• Adventurers of Purse and Person, by John Frederick Dorman (see this Google book for "Families G-P"; see also FamilySearch)

• Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800, by Nugent, Neil Marion, Virginia State Library, Virginia Genealogical Society. Published 1934, Richmond, Pressof the Dietz Print Co. Henry Bagwell, Ancient Planter, page xxxviii.

• Gantt/McAbee Tree - Henry Bagwell

• Geer Family Tree - Henry Bagwell (no longer available)