John West (colonel)

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John West
Member of the House of Burgesses for New Kent County
In office
1680–1691
Serving with Charles Turner, Richard Littlepage, Joseph Foster, William Leigh
Succeeded byJohn Lyddal
Personal details
Borncirca 1632
Bellfield Plantation, York County, Colony of Virginia
Died1691
New Kent County, Colony of Virginia
NationalityBritish
SpouseUnity Croshaw
ChildrenJohn West III
Thomas West
Nathaniel West
Parent
OccupationPlanter, militia officer, politician

Colonel John West, Jr. of West Point, Virginia (1632–1691) was a planter, commander of the New Kent Militia in the Colony of Virginia and represented the county in the House of Burgesses, as would his sons. Complicating matters, while this man sided with Governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and had his property at West Point severely damaged, his cousin of the same name (John West, son of Anthony West) who lived on Virginia's Eastern Shore sided with the rebels and briefly (in 1676) represented Accomack County as a burgess, and received a pardon after the conflict (as well as had two sons named John and one named Jonathan as well as Anthony and Alexander West).[1]

Early and family life[edit]

John West was born on June 6, 1632, at Bellfield Plantation, York River, Virginia. He was the child of Captain John West, Virginia Governor and his wife Anne Percy, daughter of George Percy and Anne Floyd. His father received an extra land grant because John was the first child of English parents born in the York River area.[2]

Career[edit]

West farmed using enslaved labor. In 1659, West's father died, the last of the four sons of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr who came to Virginia. In recognition of the family's contributions to the colonial enterprise, the Virginia Assembly passed the following Act:

WHEREAS the many important favours and services rendred to the countrey of Virginia by the noble family of the West, predecessors to Mr. John West, their now only survivor, claim at least that a grateful remembrance of their former merrits be still continued to their survivor, It is ordered, That the levies of the said master West and his family be remitted, and that he be exempted from payment thereof during life.[3]


John West also served in the militia from 1652 to 1673, ending with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He supported Governor Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, during which rebels imprisoned him and damaged his property. After its suppression, West also served as a member of the courts-martials which tried captured rebels.[4] However, the rebellion caused an official investigation and the report of the Commissioners noted:

Col. John West a person greatly impaired in his stock & goods by the Rebells, and a most constant Loyall Gentleman during the late Rebellion, and was for some time after Bacons death Imprisoned by the Rebell Partie.[5]

Beginning in 1680 until his death in 1691 West represented New Kent County (part-time) in the House of Burgesses.[6]

Family[edit]

By 1664, West married Unity Croshaw, daughter of Major Joseph Croshaw of York, member of the House of Burgesses. The children of Colonel John and Unity Croshaw were:[7]

West was said to have fathered a son with the Pamunkey leader Cockacoeske about 1656, several years before West's marriage to Unity Croshaw. The child became known as Captain John West.[8] Although there is evidence that Col. West was living apart from his wife in 1685,[9] the year before Cockacoeske's death, the reasons for their separation remain unknown.

Death and legacy[edit]

West died in 1691, because records show his will dated November 15, 1689, was probated in that year. However, a courthouse fire in 1787 destroyed most county records, including that will.[10] All three of his sons would become major landowners and serve in the House of Burgesses.

Ancestry[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tyler p. 356
  2. ^ Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (New York, 1915) Vol.I, p.356
  3. ^ Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. 1, p. 547
  4. ^ Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, p.27
  5. ^ "Persons who Suffered by Bacon's Rebellion. The Commissioners' Report", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jul., 1897), pp. 64-70
  6. ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 45, 47, 48, 49
  7. ^ Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., v.3, p.490
  8. ^ The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, In the Years 1675 and 1676 Jefferson Papers, American Memory Collections, Library of Congress
  9. ^ Appleton, Thomas H. et al, Searching for Their Places: Women in the South Across Four Centuries
  10. ^ New Kent County, Virginia Genealogy Project

Sources[edit]

  • "The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. Rountree, Helen C., University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
  • "Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey: Diplomat and Suzeraine." W. Martha W. McCartney.
  • "Powhatan's Mantle: Indians in the Colonial Southeast by Peter H. Wood.
  • "A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire" by John Burke, Esq. Fourth Edition. In Two Volumes. VOL. I. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1834. Delaware, Earl Pg. 333-335 (pdf pg. 373-375)

Notes on the ancestral pedigree of the West family: https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=Cq8KAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA333

  • "A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire" by John Burke, Esq. Fourth Edition. In Two Volumes. VOL.I. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1834. House of La Warr. Pg. 335-336. (pdf pg. 375-376)

Notes on the ancestral pedigree of the La Warr family: https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=Cq8KAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA333

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