Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/59

 COLONIAL PRESIDENTS AND GOVERNORS

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numerous descendants in the United States. Yardley made a great deal of money out of tobacco, and was as popular with the Indians as with the whites. The Indian King of Wey- anoke gave him a fertile tract of land in Charles City county between ]\Iapsico creek and Queen's creek, known as Weyanoke. This good man was one of the greatest benefactors of \irginia. and with Sir lulwyn Sandys deserves a monument at the hands of the people of the United States. If Sandys insti- tuted the move which freed the people of Vir- ginia from martial law and gave them repre- sentative government, Vardley executed the orders and proved himself alwa\s the sym- pathetic friend of liberty.

Argall, Samuel, deputy governor and admi- ral of Virginia from May, 1617, to April 10, 1 619, was born about 1580. Little is known of his early life, but as he was selected to dis- cover a shorter way to V'irginia in 1609, he must have been very early regarded as a mar- iner of tact and ability. He brought to Smith and the colony of Jamestown the first news of the second charter and the appointment of Sir Thomas Gates as governor. Finding the colony in great need, he furnished them with some provisions, and after making a successful trial of sturgeon fishing he returned to England. When Lord Delaware sailed on March. 1610, as governor. Captain Argall conducted him by way of the Canary and Azores Islands — the shorter route discovered by him. June 18, 1610, he was made a member of the governor's council and next day sailed with Somers to the Bermuda Islands, but missed them and sailed to Cape Cod. where he engaged in successful fishing. On his voyage homewards he explored the coast and discovered Delaware Bay. Sep- tember I he reached Algernourne Fort on

Point Comfort. During llic autumn and win- ter he explored the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and sailed from Virginia with Lord Delaware March 2^, reaching England in June, 161 1. On Julv 23. 1612. he made another trip to Virginia, and for a year remained in the ser- vice of the colony, voyaging about the bay and the rivers exploring and securing corn from the Indians, in which business he was remark- ably successful. In one of these voyages he captured Pocahontas, daughter of King Pow- hatan, and brought her to Jamestown. Soon after June 28, 1613, he sailed from X'irginia under orders from Sir Thomas Gates, and drove away the French from New England, thus keeping that country open to the Pilgrim i-'athers, who came seven years later. He is said to have visited on this voyage the Dutch settlement on the Hudson, and compelled the governor, Hendrick Christiansen, to submit to the king of England. After that he was var- iously employed in Virginia from December, 1613, to June 18, 1614, when he sailed for England. In February, 161 5, he again sailed to Virginia and returned to England with Dale in May, 1616. Early in 1617 he was appointed deputy governor and admiral of V^irginia. He continued in this office two years, and he is generally represented as an unscrupulous chief magistrate, but ])arty feeling was very high at this time, and the evidence cannot be relied, on. He appears to have been a partner with the Earl of Warwick in bringing the first negroes to Jamestown in 16 19. After Lord Delaware's death he quarrelled with Captain Edward Brewster, who had care of Delaware's estate. and wanted to put him to death for mutiny. The company became incensed with him and sent orders by Captain Yardley, appointed to succeed him, to arrest him and to examine into his acts. But the Earl of Warwick took means