Anne (Burras) Laydon (abt. 1594 - aft. 1625)

Born about 1594 in England

Ancestors

Wife of John Laydon — married Dec 1608 in Jamestown, Colony of Virginia

Died after Feb 1625 after about age 31 in Jamestown, Colony of Virginia

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Biography

Anne Burras was the first unmarried woman to arrive in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia, and she was the first Englishwoman to be married in Virginia. Her daughter Virginia was the first child born in Virginia of English parents.^[1]

Birth

Anne Burrus was born in England in about 1594.^[2] She is identified by some researchers as the daughter of Anthony Burrows and Elizabeth Edens, but the original source for this claim is unclear.^{[citation needed]}

Emigration

In 1608, she was serving as the maid to Mrs. Thomas Forrest when Anne emigrated from England to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia on the Mary Margaret.^[1][2][3] The Mary Margaret arrived at Jamestown Colony in October 1608.^[4]

Marriage

Shortly after her arrival in Virginia, Anne Burras married John Laydon. This marriage was the first between an Englishman and Englishwoman in Virginia.^[5][1][3]

Death

Anne was still living in February 1624/5 when the family of John and Anne Laydon and their four daughters were counted in the Jamestown Muster.^[2] She died after February 1624/5, but the details of her death are uncertain. Prior versions of this profile have given death dates of 1626 and 1630, but the source for either of these claims is unclear.

Children

Children of John Laydon and Anne Burrus include at least the following, all born in Virginia and counted in the Jamestown Muster on February 1624/5:

1. Virginia
2. Alice
3. Katherine
4. Margeret

Their first child, Virginia, was the first child born of English parents in Virginia.^[1]

Research Notes

Jamestown Muster

The 1624/5 Jamestown Muster showed John Laydon's household as consisting of himself (age 44) and Ann Laydon (age 30), with the ships that brought them to Jamestown, along with Virginia Laydon, Alice Laydon, Katherin Laydon, and Margerett Laydon (all "borne inf Virginia... ages not given").^[6]

Unsourced Birth & Death Claims

A merged profile (no sources) had birth about 1590 in Blofield, Norfolk, England; death "about" 11 September 1626 in Jamestown, James City, Virginia. A prior version of the profile also gave 1630 as the death date, also without source.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person: Virginia 1607-1624/5, 4th ed., 3 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005), e-book ed., loc. 14015 (profile for Laydon).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Person of Quality, (New York: J.W. Bouton, 1874), 244-45; images, Hathitrust, (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009609920 : accessed 21 Mar 2023) (Jamestown muster of John Laydon & family).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} John Esten Cooke, Virginia: A History of the People, 5th ed., (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1884), 45.
4. ↑ Alexander Brown, The First Republic in America, (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1898), 68.
5. ↑ Captaine John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer Isles, 2 vols., (1624, reprint New York: McMillan, 1907), 1:152; images, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/generallhistori00conggoog : accessed 21 Mar 2023).
6. ↑ Jamestown Muster: Laydon search results (6 November 2020).

See also:

• Jamestowns First Women (accessed via the Internet Wayback Machine 11 Jul 2021)
• Elizabeth J. Himelfarb, "Jamesown's First Lady," Archaeology Archive, (https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/newsbriefs/jamestown.html : accessed 21 Mar 2023).