Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/150

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

arrears of what consideration was covenanted unto him by Leonard Calvert, Esq., for his services in the office of Governor of this pro- vince, being half of his Lordship's receipts for the year 1646, and half of the customs for the same year." It was ordered that he should be paid. On Aug. 26, 1649, Lord Baltimore is- sued a proclamation in which he declared that "Captain Edward Hill (the Governor in 1646)" was only his "pretended lieutenant of said province," but never fully authorized by or from him. After his return to Virginia, Hill resumed his seat in the assembly, as a burgess from Charles City. From that time until 1654, when he is mentioned as having been unanimously chosen speaker of the house of burgesses, nothing is known of him except that, in 1650, he was summoned before the council because, without obtaining the license required, he had "collected fifty men to accom- pany him on an expedition to the lands west of the falls, with the avowed intention of find- ing gold and silver in these parts." After his election as speaker, one \\'illiam Hatcher ''maliciously reported" him to be an atheist and blasphemer, to the great indignation of the "Honorable Governor and Council," who "cleared the said Colonel Hill, and certified the same unto the House." On March 31, 1654- 55. Col. Hill was a member of the council, and in March of the year following, the council ordered that he should be given command of "100 men at least," and sent to remove "by force if necessary," 600 or 700 western and inland Indians who had "set down near the falls of James river and were a great danger." Hill, who w^as at that time commander-in-chief of Henrico and Charles City counties, at the head of a force consisting of colonists and friendly Pamunkey Indians, met the hostile savages on a small creek in Hanover county.

as John Ledderer recites. His little army was put to confusion, and Tottopottomoy, the chief of the Pamunkeys was killed, wdience since that day the creek has been known as Totto- pottomoy Creek. The failure of the under- taking brought down upon Col. Hill, the cen- sure of the assembly, which directed, in 1656, his suspension from all civil and military offices, that he should be "incapable of resti- tution but by an assembly," and charged to his account the expenses of procuring peace with the Indians. Col. Hill was successful, how- ever, in regaining the favor of the assembly, for in April, 1658, he was again a member of the council, and in March, 1659, he was a burgess for Charles City and speaker of the house. His death occurred about the year 1663, and he was succeeded in his large landed estates by his son. Col. Edward Hill Jr., of Shirley, of whom a sketch will appear later.

Dew, Thomas, of Nansemond county, was, in Jan., 1639. appointed by the assembly an inspector of tobacco in Upper Norfolk county. He was a member of the house of burgesses in April, 1642 and again as "Captain Thos. Dew," in Nov., 1652, as "Lt. Col. Thos. Dew" in 1653, and as "Colonel Thos. Dew," in Nov., 1654. He was elected to the council on March 31, 1654-55. on March 13, 1657-58 and was present as a member in March 1659-60. In Dec, 1656. the assembly passed a resolution on the petition of Col. Thomas Dew, permit- ting that gentleman to make discoveries of the navigable rivers between Capes Hatteras and Fear, with such other gentlemen and planters as would, voluntarily and at their own charge, accompany him. Whether or not Col. Dew remained in the council after 1660. is not known. The following are the grants of land he received: (i) Thomas Dew, four hundred