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Christopher Wormeley (died 1656) was a British military officer who served as governor of Tortuga before becoming the secretary of state for the Virginia Colony (1635-1649) as well as captain of the fort at Old Point Comfort beginning in 1638. He also served on the Virginia Governor's Council (1637-1642), as would his younger brother Ralph Wormeley Sr. and son Christopher Wormeley Jr.

Early life and education

The son of merchant Christopher Wormeley was born in York County, England. He had a younger brother Ralph who had emigrated to the Virginia colony by 1635. The family could trace its descent from Sir John de Wormeley of Hadfield, York County, England.

Military and bureaucratic career

After the Spanish captured Tortuga despite his efforts, Wormeley sailed to Virginia. In 1636, he was appointed a justice of the peace for what was initially called Charles River County (but became York County in 1634). Shortly thereafter Wormeley was appointed a member of the Virginia Governor's Council, and as such supported the unpopular governor John Harvey. Wormeley also commanded the militia of Charles River and Elizabeth City counties in 1639 and 1640. Beginning in 1638, Wormeley wa captain of the fort at Old Point Comfort. When the colony's secretary, Mathew Kemp, fled to England in 1640, Wormeley may have accompanied him, both being unpopular, and had difficulty returning to Virginia. Wormeley later confessed to having unjustly adjudicated against a man named Taylor while a commissioner for Elizabeth City county, and the royal council ordered him to make reparation to Taylor, but did not disbar him from the Virginia governor's council when he returned.

Planter

Wormeley acquired 1,420 acres on the York River, including the east side of what became known as Wormeley creek and established a plantation. At least two of the people for whose immigration he paid and thus acquired the right to patent land were enslaved Africans. Wormeley or his son hosted several prominent royalist exiles at his plantation in 1650 (including Sir Thomas Lunsford, Sir Henry Chicheley, Sir Philip Honywood and Col. Manwaring Hammond).

Personal life

Wormeley married Mary Adams in England, who bore at least two children who survived him, as well as accompanied him to the Virginia colony and remarried after his death. Their son, Christopher Wormeley Jr. (d. 1701) inherited land from their father and developed at least one plantation further upstream on the York River in what had become Lancaster and later Middlesex County. The younger Wormeley also served on the Governor's Council (after Bacon's Rebellion) and proved unpopular. This man's daughter Elizabeth successively married colonial secretary Richard Kemp, councillor Thomas Lunsford and Major General Robert Smith.

Death and legacy

Wormeley last attended governor's council meetings in 1642 and 1643, so one biographer believes he died in that year. Digitized York County records show his will was admitted to probate by the spring of 1645, with his brother Ralph and widow Mary as executors (and Mary remarried to Captain William Brocas, who later made appearances on her behalf). However, another biographer believes he died in 1656, possibly because a British sea captain of the same name died in Yorkshire in 1655.

References

1. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915) vol. 1, pp. 106-107
2. McCartney, Martha W. (2012). Jamestown people to 1800 : landowners, public officials, minorities, and native leaders. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-8063-1872-1. OCLC 812189309.
3. ^ Tyler
4. Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library) p. xxi
5. ^ McCartney p. 456
6. "Christopher Wormley b. Abt 1618 d. 1643 Gloucester County, Virginia: Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties". www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us.
7. McCartney p. 457
8. Virginia will records extracted from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly. p. 461, or p. 476 of 999 on ancestry.com.

• People from colonial Virginia
• 1645 deaths
• People from York County, Virginia