The Jamestown Brides

Jamestown, England's first real foothold in the New World, was fraught with danger -- from starvation and disease to violent skirmishes between colonists and the native populations. Mortality rates were impossibly high: Six out of seven settlers died within the first few years. How clear these
and other perils were made to the fifty-six young women who left their homes and boarded ships in England in 1621, nearly fifteen years after Jamestown's founding, is not known. But we do know who they were. Their ages ranged from sixteen to twenty-eight, and they were deemed "young and uncorrupt."
Each had a bride price of 150 pounds of tobacco set by the Virginia Company, which funded their voyage. Though the women had all gone of their own free will, they were to be sold into marriage, generating a profit for investors and helping ensure the colony's long-term viability.

Without letters or journals (young women from middling classes had not generally been taught to write), Jennifer Potter turned to the Virginia Company's merchant lists -- which were used as a kind of sales catalog for prospective husbands -- as well as censuses, court records, the minutes of
Virginia's General Assemblies, letters to England from their male counterparts, and other such accounts of the everyday life of the early colonists. In The Jamestown Brides, she spins a fascinating tale of courage and survival, exploring the women's lives in England before their departure and their
experiences in Jamestown. Some were married before the ships left harbor. Some were killed in an attack by the native population only months after their arrival. A few never married at all. In telling the story of these "Maids for Virginia" Potter sheds light on life for women in early modern
England and in the New World.

"In 1621, nearly fifteen years after the establishment of the Jamestown colony, the Virginia Company funded another voyage of colonists to the New World. This time, however, their ships carried fifty-six young women. Their ages ranged from sixteen to twenty-eight, they were of good character and proven skills, and each had a bride price of 150lbs of tobacco set by the Company. Though the women had all agreed to journey to Jamestown of their own free will, they were also unquestionably there to be sold into marriage, thereby generating a profit for investors and increasing the colony's long-term viability. These were the aims of the Virginia Company at least; the aims of the women themselves are less clear. Without letters or journals (young women from middling classes had not generally been taught to write), Jennifer Potter's research has turned to the Virginia Company's merchant lists, which were used as a kind of sales catalog for prospective husbands, as well as censuses, court records, the minutes of Virginia's General Assemblies, letters to England from their male counterparts, and other such accounts of the everyday life of the early colonists. The first part of her book explores the women's lives before their departure, but the true heft of the work lies in the second part, which documents the women's lives in Jamestown. In telling the story of these "Maids for Virginia," Potter at once sheds light on life for women in early modern England and in the New World."--Provided by poublsher.

"The Jamestown Brides gives us a concise, well-researched and highly readable glimpse into the early days of the European colonization of America." -- Bill Hudgins, American Spirit

the book's important contribution is in combating the women's historical erasure and restoring their individuality. For so long, the Jamestown brides have been clumped together as one undistinguishable mass -- a group of women sharing general physical, financial, and familial characteristics. Potter
provides the details and stories that have been missing ... a fitting tribute. -- Marcia Zug, Journal of Southern History