William Claiborne
William Claiborne | |
---|---|
Secretary of State for the Virginia Colony | |
In office 1626–1634 | |
Parliamentary Commissioner and Secretary of the Virginia Colony | |
In office 1648–1660 | |
Succeeded by | Richard Kemp |
Member of the Virginia Governor's Council | |
In office 1623-1637 | |
In office 1642–16651 | |
Treasurer of the Virginia colony | |
In office 1642–1661 | |
Treasurer of the Virginia colony | |
In office 1652–1661 | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1600 Virginia Colony , Kingdom of England |
Occupation | Surveyor, colonial government official, trader, planter |
William Claiborne also, spelled Cleyburne (c. 1600 – c. 1677)
Claiborne was an
Early life and emigration to America
Claiborne was born in Crayford parish in the county of
Four years later, Claiborne was offered a position as a land surveyor in the new colony of
Claiborne achieved financial success using his political success. Appointed to the Governor's Council in 1624, he was named the colony's
Kent Island and the first dispute with Maryland
In 1629,
Calvert, a former high official in the government of
Claiborne sailed for
Claiborne's first appeal to royal authority in the dispute, which complained both that the lands in the Maryland charter were not really unsettled, as the charter claimed, and that the charter gave so much power to Calvert that it undermined the rights of the settlers, was rejected by the
During these events, Governor John Harvey of Virginia, who had never been well liked by the Virginian colonists, had followed royal orders to support the Maryland settlement and, just before the naval battles in the Chesapeake, removed Claiborne from office as Secretary of State.[26] In response, Claiborne's supporters in the Virginia Assembly expelled Harvey from the colony.[27] Two years later, an attorney for Cloberry and Company, who were concerned that the revenues they were receiving from fur trading had not recouped their original investment, arrived on Kent Island. The attorney took possession of the island and bade Claiborne return to England, where Cloberry and Company filed suit against him. The attorney then invited Maryland to take over the island by force, which it did in December 1637. By March 1638 the Maryland Assembly had declared that all of Claiborne's property within the colony now belonged to the proprietor.[28] Maryland temporarily won the legal battle for Kent Island and won again when Claiborne's final appeal was rejected by the Privy Council in April 1638.[29]
Parliamentary Commissioner, move to Romancoke and the second dispute with Maryland
In May 1638, fresh from his defeat over Kent Island, Claiborne received a commission from the Providence Land Company, who were advised by his old friend Maurice Thomson, to create a new colony on Ruatan Island off the coast of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea. At the time, Honduras itself was a part of Spain's Kingdom of Guatemala, and Spanish settlements dominated the mainland of Central America. Claiborne optimistically called his new colony Rich Island, but Spanish power in the area was too strong and the colony was destroyed in 1642.[30] Until about 1640, Claiborne lived in Elizabeth City County. After 1640 he lived at Romancoke plantation, near the confluence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers, in what was initially York County, but which through divisions in 1654 became New Kent County, and eventually in 1701 (after his death) King William County[31]
Soon after, the chaos of the
In 1648 a group of merchants in London applied to Parliament for revocation of the Maryland charter from the Calverts.
Claiborne made no overt legal attempts to re-assert control over Kent Island during the commission's rule of Maryland, although a treaty concluded during that time with the Susquehannocks claimed that Claiborne owned both Kent and Palmer Islands.[39] Claiborne's legal designs on Maryland were once again defeated when Oliver Cromwell returned Calvert to power in 1653, after the Rump Parliament ended.[40] In 1654, Governor Stone of Maryland tried to reclaim authority for the proprietor and declared that Claiborne's property and his life could be taken at the Governor's pleasure.[41] Stone's declaration was ignored and Claiborne and Bennett again overthrew him, creating a new assembly in which Catholics were not allowed to serve.[42] Calvert, now angry at Stone for what he perceived as weakness, demanded that Stone do something, and in 1655 Stone reclaimed control in St. Mary's and led a group of soldiers to Providence (modern Annapolis). Stone was captured and his force defeated by local Puritan settlers, who took control of the colony.[43] Given the new situation, Claiborne and Bennett went to England in hopes of convincing Cromwell to change his mind but, to their dismay, no decision was made and, lacking royal authority, the Puritans gave power over to a new governor appointed by Calvert.[44] Going behind Claiborne's back, Bennett and another commissioner reached an agreement with Calvert that virtually guaranteed his continued control over Maryland through the remainder of the Protectorate.[45]
With no authority left in Maryland, Claiborne turned to his political offices in Virginia. However, as a consequence of his continuous conflict and disruption, over several years, of authority and government in both Maryland and Virginia in pursuit of his commercial interests, as well as his alliance with the Parliament faction during these activities, upon the restoration of the British monarchy in 1660 he had few friends left in government. Claiborne therefore retired from political affairs in 1660 and spent the remainder of his life managing his 5,000 acre (2,023 hectare) estate, "Romancoke", near West Point on the Pamunkey River, dying there in about 1677.[46]
Family life and descendants
In the midst of the political turmoil of the conflict over Kent Island, Claiborne married Elizabeth Butler (or Boteler) of Essex, whose brother John was one of Claiborne's associates in the Kent Island venture. The couple had four sons (William Claiborneam Jr., John, Thomas and Leonard) and two daughters (Jane who married burgess Thomas Brereton of Northumberland County and Elizabeth who in 1668 patented 1000 acres of land in what was then King and Queen County and later became New Kent county).[47] Initially William Claiborne Jr.(ca. 1636 – before 1678), who in the 1650s was a merchant on his father's behalf in England, inherited his father's Romancoke plantation and other lands, as well as served as a New Kent County burgess 1660–1678 and on the court to try members of Bacon's Rebellion, but died before 1678.[48] His younger brother and merchant partner Thomas Claiborne (1647–1683) may have been a co-executor, as reflected in a deed dated August 25, 1670.[7][49] While John returned from England, married and became guardian for his nephew William Claiborne III in 1787. While Leonard Claiborne (1649–1694) both received Virginia land from his father and patented 3000 acres in what beame King William County, he settled in Jamaica and served in that island's assembly in 1693.[50]
Several lines of American Claibornes claim emigrant William as their ancestor. Descendants include
References
- KentClayborns of England as his ancestors. other dates and biographical information reflect "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography" 1887–89.
- ^ Warren Billings, " Claiborne, William (1600–1679)" in Dictionary of Virginia Biography vol. 3, p. 255–256, also available at https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/claiborne-william-1600-1679/
- ^ Neill, Edward D. (1876). The founders of Maryland as portrayed in manuscripts, provincial records and early documents. Albany, NY: J. Munsell, 1876. p. 45.
- ^ Brenner, p. 120
- ^ Billings
- ^ a b c Brenner, p. 121
- ^ a b Richardson, p. 95
- ^ Billings
- ISBN 978-1-85109-637-4.
- ^ Billings
- ^ Brenner, pp. 122–124
- ^ Browne, p. 27 and Fiske, pp. 263–264
- ^ Browne, p. 28 and Krugler, p. 107
- ^ Fiske, p. 265
- ^ Brenner, p. 124
- ^ Brenner, p. 124 and Hatfield, p. 186
- ^ Brenner, p. 131
- ^ Fiske, p. 271
- ^ Brenner, p. 141
- ^ Brenner, pp. 141–142
- ^ Browne, pp. 43–44
- ^ Fiske, pp. 272–274
- ^ Fiske, p. 274
- ^ Osgood, p. 94 and Fiske, p. 275
- ^ Hatfield, p. 186
- ^ Fiske, p. 277
- ^ Hatfield, p. 186 and Brenner, p. 143
- ^ Osgood, p. 95 and Fiske, pp. 280–282
- ^ Brenner, p. 157 and Fiske, pp. 281–282
- ^ Brenner, p. 157
- ^ Billings
- ^ Brenner, p. 167
- ^ Osgood, pp. 113–114
- ^ Fiske, pp. 288–290
- ^ Brenner, pp. 167–168
- ^ Osgood, pp. 120–121
- ^ a b Osgood, p. 124
- ^ Fiske, pp. 294–295
- ^ Osgood, p. 127 and Fiske, p. 294
- ^ Osgood, p. 121
- ^ Osgood, p. 129
- ^ Osgood, p. 130
- ^ Osgood, p. 131
- ^ Osgood, pp. 132–133
- ^ Osgood, p. 133
- ^ Fiske, p. 297
- LCCN 95-80550) pp. 5–6
- ^ Dornan pp. 7–8
- ^ Billings
- ^ Dornan pp. 14-15
- ^ Bernstein, Adam (2007-06-27). "Liz Claiborne, 78, Fashion Industry Icon". The Washington Post. pp. B07. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
- ^ Boddie's 1999 Virginia Historical Genealogies.
- ^ "The National Society of the Claiborne Family Descendants". Retrieved 2008-01-22.
References
- Brenner, Robert (2003). Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders. London:Verso. ISBN 1-85984-333-6.
- Browne, William Hand (1890). George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert: Barons Baltimore of Baltimore. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company.
- Fiske, John (1897). Old Virginia and Her Neighbors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- Krugler, John D. (2004). English and Catholic: the Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7963-9.
- Hatfield, April Lee (2004). Atlantic Virginia: Intercolonial Relations in the Seventeenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3757-9.
- Osgood, Herbert Levi (1907). The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century. London: MacMilland and Company.
- Richardson, Douglas (2005). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8063-1759-0.
External links and Sources
- Exploring Maryland's Roots: William Claiborne
- National Society of Claiborne Family Descendants
- William Claiborne at Encyclopedia Virginia