John Jefferson (abt. 1600 - aft. 1627)

Born about 1600 in England

Died after Jan 1627 after about age 27 in Virginia Colony

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Biography

John Jefferson was a Jamestown colonist.

John Jefferson, gunsmith, was born c. 1600, probably in England. We do not know the identity of his parents. In 1618, he boarded the ship Bona Nova^[1] and came to Jamestown.

In 1624, according to a census taken after the Indian Massacre of 1622, John was a surviver, living at Elizabeth City.^[2][3]

A year later, a more detailed census was taken for 1624/25, listing him as living alone at James City.^[4][5]

John did not remain solo much longer. On 2 May 1625, the General Court granted a warrant to Capt. Ralph Hamor for the arrest of John Jefferson the smith, who had eloped with his maid servant, in "any plantation where they shall be found."^[6][7]

A few months later, on 3 Jan 1626, John Jefferson’s workmanship was questioned when a gun he repaired misfired, injuring the eye of Henry Booth. Jefferson was ordered to pay Booth’s medical bills and a fee towards his maintenance. The Court mitigated the penalties because the gun barrel was faulty and Jefferson was a poor man and a tenant to the Company.^[8]

In 12 Jan 1627, after the Virginia Company was dissolved, tenants of the Company were redistributed. John was assigned to Capt. West.^[9] It is uncertain when Jefferson's contract as a tenant with the Company expired.

According to historian Martha McCartney, “In 1664, when a plat was made of John Knowles’s acreage abutting urban Jamestown’s Back Street, the name ‘Jno Jefferson’ was written at a site just east of Orchard Run. This raises the possibility that Jefferson-the-gunsmith acquired land there and perhaps set up shop after completing his tenancy. The Knowles plat, which is at the Library of Congress, is part of the Ambler Papers.”^[10]

Another source claims that "Mary Bailey and gunsmith John Jefferson owned land on the east side of Kingsmill Creek’s head and to their east was a 12-acre tract that had been acquired by yeoman William Fairfax."^[11]

We cannot be sure of these claims, as no patent information has been found.

Finding no other information after the tenant distribution notice of 12 Jan 1627, we will record on this profile that John Jefferson died "after Jan 1627."

Sources

1. ↑ -Passenger List of the Bona Nova Research and compilation by Anne Stevens, packrat-pro.com.
2. ↑ List of Living and Dead in Virginia
3. ↑ Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD, p. 43
4. ↑ Coldham, page 56.
5. ↑ 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. 31.
6. ↑ McIlwaine, H.R., ed. Minutes of the Council and General court of Colonial Virginia, Richmond: The Library Board, 1924; repr. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1979., p. 57
7. ↑ Ralph Hamor on Wikiwand.com (accessed 14 Jul 2021)
8. ↑ McIlwaine, page 84.
9. ↑ McIlwaine, page 136.
10. ↑ Ambler Papers, pp 135-136, as cited in McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary; Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 2007, p. 419.
11. ↑ Jamestowne Society Magazine, Vol. 45, No. 1, Spring 2021, p. 11.