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A tobacco bride (or "tobacco wife") is a descriptive name for a young woman that emigrated to Colonial Virginia to marry a settler. Following the settlement of the Jamestown, Virginia colony in the early 1600s there was a vast gender inequality, as most of those who left for Jamestown were men who were tasked with building and establishing the settlement itself. There were about 100 women with families already in colonial Virginia, but there was still a significant gender divide (7∶1 men to women). Beginning in 1619, young single women from England were offered by Virginia Company of London the opportunity to travel to Jamestown to marry and start families and to increase the population.

The expense of the women's travels fell upon the men of the colony, who paid with 150 pounds (68 kg) of tobacco to the Virginia Company. These "Maids for Virginia" were incentivized by the promise of land ownership, inheritance rights, as well as their own discretion to choose their own husband (all of which were luxuries not awarded to women in England).

Around 90 women made the decision to travel to Jamestown in 1619. In 1620, ship The Marmaduke added 13 more women to Virginia. The next year, 57 more women were shipped. By 1622, roughly 144 women had arrived to Jamestown. The ages of the women varied; among the youngest of the women was Jane Dier, who was around fifteen to sixteen years old when she departed. One of the oldest women was Alice Burges who was 31 or 32. Many tobacco brides came to America fleeing hardship, but many also suffered once in America. Despite their hardships, these women paved the way for the women of the future by escaping the assigned "maid" role and instead gaining more economic freedom and independence than was given to other women of this time, leading to some to dub them the "Founding Mothers".

Known Jamestown maids

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2024)

1. Mary Bayley (Bailey)
2. Abigail Downing

Maids from the Marmaduke (sailed August 1621)

1. Susan Binx, aged 20
2. Margaret Bordman (Bourdman), aged 20
3. Anne Buergen
4. Allice Burges, aged 31-32 (see footnote)
5. Jane Dier, aged 15
6. Catherine Finche, aged 23
7. Mary Ghibbs, aged 20
8. Ann Harmer, aged 21
9. Audrey Hoare, aged 19
10. Ann Jackson
11. Lettice King, aged 23
12. Ursula Lawson
13. Ann Tanner, aged 27

Maids from the Warwick (sailed September 1621)

1. Martha Baker, aged 20
2. Cicely Bray, aged 25
3. Frauncis Broadbottom, aged 19
4. Ellen Borne, aged 19
5. Elizabeth Bovill (Borrill), aged 20
6. Ellen Davy, aged 22
7. Alse Dollinges, aged 22
8. Ann Holmes, aged 20
9. Elizabeth Markham, aged 16
10. Mary Morrice, aged 20
11. Ann Parker, aged 20
12. Lucy Remnant, aged 22
13. Ann Richards (or Anne Rickard), widow, aged 25
14. Jennet Rimer, aged 20
15. Cristian Smyth, aged 18
16. Parnell Tenton, aged 20
17. Mary Thomas, aged 18
18. Ann Westcote, aged 20

Maids from the Tiger (sailed September 1621)

1. Elizabeth Browne, aged 16
2. Anne Gibbson, aged 21
3. Allice Gough, gentlewoman, aged 28
4. Priscilla Palmer, aged 7 or 8

Maids from the Seaflower (sailed c. 1621)

1. Jane Berkeley (Berkley), future widow of Lt. Edward Berkeley
2. Hannah (Ann) "Tyng", future wife of Thomas Savage

See also

• Women of Colonial Virginia
• The Wives of Jamestown
• Ancient planter
• Casquette girl
• Plaçage
• King's Daughters
• Marriage à la façon du pays
• Bride buying

Notes

1. It was claimed that Alice Burges was only 28 years old, but other records claim she was 31 years upon departure to Virginia

References

1. ^ Zug, Marcia (31 August 2016). "The Mail-Order Brides of Jamestown, Virginia" (PDF). The Atlantic – via Google Scholar.
2. "A Short History of Jamestown - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
3. Voices of a People's History of the ... – Google Books. Walch. ISBN 9780825144608. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
4. ^ Zug, Marcia (Fall 2012). "Lonely Colonist Seeks Wife". Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy. 20 (85). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University School of Law: 85–125. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
5. Michel Hersen (11 November 2013). Handbook of Child Psychopathology. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 4–. ISBN 978-1-4615-7136-0.
6. ^ "Jamestown Brides - World History Encyclopedia".
7. ^ "The Jamestown Brides: The Story of the Virginia Company's Trade in Young English Wives | Virginia Museum of History & Culture".
8. ^ Collins, Gail (September 1, 2004). America's Women: Four Hundred Years ... – Google Books. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060959814. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
9. ^ Joyce Appleby; Eileen Chang; Neva Goodwin (17 July 2015). Encyclopedia of Women in American History. Routledge. pp. 196–. ISBN 978-1-317-47162-2.
10. https://web.archive.org/web/20160711062116/http://jamestowne-wash-nova.org/MaryBayly.pdf
11. Potter, Jennifer (2019). The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England's 'Maids for Virginia'. Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 9780190942632.
12. Ransome, David R. “Village Tensions in Early Virginia: Sex, Land, and Status at the Neck of Land in the 1620s.” The Historical Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2000, pp. 365–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3021033. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
13. "The Real Wives of Jamestown | History Today". www.historytoday.com.
14. Potter, Jennifer (2019). The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England's 'Maids for Virginia'. Oxford University Press. pp. 145–147. ISBN 9780190942632.
15. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society. 1918.
16. Lowell Cook, Mrs. Henry (October 1942). "Maids for Wives". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 50 (4): 300–320. JSTOR 4245200. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
17. Wise, Jennings Cropper (1911). Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke, or the Eastern Shore of Virginia, in the Seventeenth Century. The Bell book and stationery co. p. 28.
18. Stanard, W. G. (April 1894). "Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 1 (4): 436–452. JSTOR 4241782. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
19. https://www.jamestowne.org/blog/thomas-savage-c-1592-1633-jamestown-and-accomack-county

• History of women in the United States
• History of tobacco
• History of women in Virginia
• Pre-statehood history of Virginia
• Colony of Virginia
• American frontier
• Colonial American women
• Fur trade