Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/129

 COLONIAL COUNCILLORS OF STATE

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work." Two letters written by Capps in 1623. one to John Ferrar. and the other to Dr. Wynston, are preserved among the Duke of Manchester's manuscripts. The first of these letters has been published in full in 'A'irginia \'etusta." The writer seems to have been zealous for the welfare of the colony, but was evidently of a grumbling and fault-tinding disposition. One fact connected with him should not be omitted. After the revocation of the charter in 1624 there was no regular general assembly of representatives of the peo- l>Ie. The Virginia authorities sent over a memorial in 1627 on the subject, and by W il- liam Capps, who was in England, King Charles sent instructions allowing a general assembly and urging the cultivation of staple commo- dities, as heretofore they had depended too much "upon smoke." To Capps was given the privilege of erecting salt works. He ar- rived in \'irginia Feb. 22, 1628 and on the 26th of the next month the colonial assembly met. He was a member of the council in 1627 and was alive in 1630.

Cowlinge, Christopher, is only known by the fact that Gov. Harvey wrote, on May 29, 1630. that since his arrival in Virginia, Apr., 1630, Christopher Cowlinge had been sworn a member of the council. No other mention of him occurs in the records.

Finch, Henry. Gov. Harvey, writing May 29, 1630, says that since his arrival in Virginia, a few weeks before, he has sworn as a mem- ber of the council, Henry Finch, "brother to Sir John Finch." Finch was present in coun- cil upon Dec. 20, 1631. Feb. 21, 1631-32, and Feb. I, 1632-33, but there is no other notice of him. He probably died or left Virginia soon after the last named date. He was the son of Sir Henry Finch, sergeant-at-law, and brother

oi Sir John Finch, lord chief justice, speaker of the house of commons and lord keeper, who was knighted in 1626, and afterwards created' llaron Finch of Ferdwick. The pedigrees gi\en by liurke and I'erry say that John h^inch was the oidy son of .Sir I lenry. but this is cer- ti'.inly an error, iov the "Dictionary of Na- tional lliography" gives a sketch of Edward h'inch, a royalist devine, who was another son, stated, like our councillor, to have been "over- looked by the genealogists." Maj. Joseph Cro- shaw, of York county, X'irginia, married a Widow l-'inch, who had a daughter Betty.

Stephens, Richard, came to Virginia in the year 1^)23, in the ship "George," and settled at Jamestown. In the same year he was granted sixty rods of land adjoining his dwelling house, \v the "corporation of James Citty," in the hope that others might be "encouraged by his e> ample to enclose some ground for gardens." Iv. March of the year following he was a mem- ber of the house of burgesses. In the spring of 1624 Stephens awakened to find himself notori- ous as one of the principals in the first duel ever fought in \'irginia. His antagonist, George Flarrison, died fourteen days afterwards, and it has been generally stated that his death was caused by his wounds, but George Menifie, writing on April 28, 1624, to John Harrison, told him that post-mortem examination had shown that his brother George was in bad health, and that his death was not supposed to have been the result of being "hurt in the field," in the duel of fourteen days before, for that he had only received a slight wound in the leg between the garter and the knee. Early in 1630 Gov. Harvey added Stephens to the council, but some years later, probably in 1635, a quarrel arose between them and Harvey dashed out some of Stephens' teeth with a