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NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2016
WOMEN AND IMMIGRATION TOPICS
T
Jamestown—The English Settle the New World
he first permanent English settlement in the new world was established at Jamestown in 1607. Founded by the
Virginia Company as a commercial venture, the settlement was the starting point for what would eventually become
the United States. While women were not among the initial 104 arrivals, two women—Anne Forrest and her maid Anne
Burras—voluntarily immigrated to Jamestown the next year, in 1608. They were followed over ensuing years by additional
Englishwomen who were predominantly traveling to join husbands and families.
Lord Bacon, a member of His Majesty’s Council for Virginia, stated about 1620 that “When a plantation grows to strength, then
it is time to plant with women as well as with men; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced
from without.”4
The Virginia Company recognized the economic value in establishing a permanent core of settlers. Women would be essential
to making this happen. In 1618, the Virginia Company instituted the headright system. Those who paid to transport a new
colonist, regardless of whether male or female, were granted 50 acres of land for each person. This system recognized
women’s equal value to the emerging society. With the belief that women would be a stabilizing influence on the colony as well
as provide necessary labor in 1620, the Virginia Company recruited and sent 90 young women on what was later dubbed the
Bride ship to Virginia purely to encourage family formation.
“Wives for the Settlers at Jamestown”
New York Public Library
4
“The Indispensable Role of Women at Jamestown,” National Park Service, accessed January 5, 2015, www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/the-indispensible-role-of-women-atjamestown.htm.