I find it interesting that this year, the year my father died, is also the year that two major immigrant brick walls have come down in my family history research. One of those walls has revealed John Chandler, the youngest person at the time of his arrival to ever land at Jamestown. The timing was dramatic; if he had been on an earlier fleet, he may have had to endure The Starving Time, which ended with the arrival of Lord DeLaWarr's fleet in 1610, on which John was a passenger. The evidence linking this particular John Chandler to my family was established earlier this year, following genetic testing and research...more details of that later. Some months ago I began putting together John Chandler's story, and typed up the sketch below to give context to his arrival:
The situation at Jamestown, Virginia on June
10, 1610, the day that John Chandler (age 9) arrived on board the Hercules, the
third ship in Thomas West, Lord DeLaWarr’s fleet
At the end of the previous
summer (October 4), an injured John Smith returned to England. Conditions in Jamestown quickly deteriorated.
Relations with the natives quickly went from a fragile truce to an open
campaign by Chief Powhatan to starve out the colonists. Since previously, colonists had relied on
trade with the natives for the bulk of their food supply, this spelled huge
trouble with the coming winter. The colonists
had neglected their fishnets, which rotted in the water. Hunting was extremely dangerous, since
natives attempted to kill anyone who left the fort.
The expected fleet from
England had suffered damage from a hurricane that summer, with the flagship
becoming stranded in Bermuda, with a bulk of the supplies and food. One ship
returned to England, and the seven other ships landed at Jamestown, delivering
200-300 men, women, and children and few supplies. Although a fleet returned to England to warn
of the settlers’ predicament, no further supply ships arrived that year, or the
following spring.
The Starving Time followed,
and that winter, 88% of the approximately 500 colonists died. All of the fort’s animals were eaten, many
houses and parts of the palisade were burned for firewood, and some even
resorted to cannibalism to survive.
The Bermuda contingent,
including the recently widowed John Rolfe, arrived in May of 1610 to find 60
sick and starving colonists confined to the safety of the blockhouse, with the
rest of the fort deteriorated around them.
It was decided to abandon the colony and on June 7, 1610, everyone
boarded the ships and began to sail down the James River.
At approximately 10 miles
downriver from Jamestown, they were met by a fleet of supply ships led by
Thomas West, Lord DeLaWarr, that had left England on April 1. The newly appointed Governor West headed the
group back to Jamestown. On the third ship in this fleet, the Hercules, the youngest passenger was John Chandler. He was also the youngest person to date to have been sent/brought to Jamestown.
*Governor Percy had sent
Capt. Francis West on a trading mission to the Potomac. After trading for corn, West and his men on
the Swallow began to return to Jamestown, and at Ratcliffe’s fort at the mouth
of the James learned that the colony was in dire need and had resorted to
cannibalism. Instead of proceeding with
due speed, they headed to sea and consumed the corn themselves on a return trip
to England.
Although he was very young, John Chandler wasn't traveling with relatives. It is not known if he had any connection to anyone else on the fleet, or why he was aboard. Just a few weeks later, another boy would arrive: Thomas Willoughby, age 10, whose uncle was an investor in the Virginia Company. It is a safe bet that the two boys, as the only children in the colony, became friends. In any case, by 1624, John Chandler was living as an employee at Thomas Willoughby's military encampment at Elizabeth City. John Chandler's fortunes were just about to change. (to be continued)
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