William Drysdale 1636 - shipment of 6 condemned men to the colony [Virginia] - perhaps the first American Drysdale?

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

I recently found a reference to a William Drysdale (who, in 1636, appears to have been a planter or Merchant in Virginia) in a book entitled "Economic history of Virginia in the seventeenth century, an inquiry etc..." Vol 1 - Bruce 1896

The reference gives the source of this information as "CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS COLONIAL SERIES, 1574-1660 by Sainsbury 1860"

The prints below show both the initial reference to William Drysdale and the publication from which the information was sourced.

The problem I have is that the referenced publication does not include the 1636 reference to William Drysdale.

I have searched all the usual places for different or alternative versions of the source record (internet archive, Hathi, passenger lists etc. etc) but have had no luck in finding any Virginian Drysdales at all for the relevant timeframe (the earliest I've found is for a James Drysdale in Charles City in 1658).

I've probably come up against a brick wall in this but any inspired help would be appreciated

Regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

I've made some slight progress since my previous post.

After being pointed in the right direction (by someone from Rhode Island) I managed to download the original source with the Paragraph referred to in the quote from the "Economic history of Virginia in the seventeenth century etc" by Bruce

Ref: https://archive.org/details/sim_great-britain-public-record-1625-16...

Additionally, I've managed to unearth some further info on William Drysdale himself in London:

He was born about 1592 & in the early 1600s William's family was the only Drysdale family in the London area. Together with his wife Mary Miller (or Muller) they had at least 3 daughters (one died) and at least two sons (one died).

He was a craftsman, a 'saddletree maker' (the wooden framework of a horse's saddle) and his business must have been quite good because he moved up from Wapping in the East end of London (circa 1610) to Westminster, next to the Houses of Parliament in the 1630s.

His father & his wife both died in 1635 & they are buried in St Margaret's Church, Westminster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Margaret%27s,_Westminster

So in 1636, in those circumstances, noting that he was a craftsman rather than a trader, it is not unreasonable to postulate that he was perhaps going to travel to Virginia himself with the 6 condemned men to start a new saddlemaking business out there.

After 1636, there is no sign of William Drysdale or his family or in fact any other Drysdale in the London area for about 30 years.

However still more work needed!

Regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

You may be right about the great fire of 1666 & there were a number of outbreaks of plague at that time also but........

.....there are at least two Drysdales - James - well respected in 1658 in Charles City & Thomas in 1660 taking the oath (in Boston area records) and these seem to have popped up out of nowhere (not on immigrant passenger lists) -  while the total number of Drysdales worldwide at that time would only have been in the low hundreds, and more than 95% of them would have been living in Scotland with only a few others scattered about in England and Northern Ireland.

If William had made the voyage in 1636, then Jamestown would have been the likely destination but from what I have read:

......... James City County was one of the eight original counties created in 1634, and originally extended both north and south of the James River. Boundary changes since then include the formation of Surry County from James City County in 1652, the transfer of part of James City County to Charles City County in 1720, and a land swap with New Kent County in 1766. James City County has a history of significant record loss; all county court records were destroyed by fire in 1865."

It's a bit disheartening looking for records that may have existed once - but may no longer exist now!

Regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

While that is a good reference for John Drysdale there is no conformation that he ever arrived in Virginia.

That Thomas fellow is below:

Additionally, there are a number of records for successful migrants:

Best regards

 

[Ronald Drysdale]

Also the source list for James Drysdale in Virginia:

Best regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Two further references to William Drysdale & the 6 felons in 1636 (Virginia Colonial records project):

https://image.lva.virginia.gov/VTLS/CR/04156/index.html - Survey report page 3

https://image.lva.virginia.gov/VTLS/CR/11372/index.html - Survey report page 1

See images below:

Regards