Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/67

 COLONIAL PRESIDENTS AND GO\'ERNORS

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Thomas Hinton. and widow successively of Captain Nathaniel West and of Abraham Piersey, the last of whom "left the best estate that ever was known in X'irginia." He had issue, Samuel Mathews, who was a member of the council in i(>55. and Francis, who was a justice of York county anil captain of the militia, and died February i6. 1675.

Moryson, Francis, governor of Virginia from April 30, i6(')i, to the fall of 1662, was a son of Sir Richard Moryson, who was sec- retary of state to King James I. He served in King Charles' army with the rank of major and he embarked from London with his fellow loyalists. Colonel Henry Norwood, Major Richard Fox and Alajor Francis Cary, for \'irginia. September 2^, 1649, and arrived in \'irginia the November following. Driven by a storm, their ship found itself on June 12. 1650, among the islands of Assateague Bay, on the Atlantic coast of Virginia. Upon one of these Colonel Moryson landed with several of his companions, and after various exper- iences in Accomac crossed over to the main shore and was kindly received by Sir William Berkeley, who gave him the command of the fort at Point Comfort. In 1655 he was speaker of the house of burgesses, and when Governor Berkeley visited England in 1662, Moryson acted as governor till sometime in the fall of the following year. The memory of his ser- vice as chief executive is marked by his gift of a splendid service of church plate to the church at Jamestown, which is preserved by the church in Williamsburg. After the return of Berkeley, Moryson was sent as agent to England at an annual salary of £200 to pro- test against a grant of the Northern Neck to several court favorites. He remained as agent in England till 1677. when he returned to Vir-

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ginia as one of a commission to en(|uire into the disturbances known as Bacon's rebellion. The commissioners held court at Swann's Point, over against Jamestown, which had been destroyed. Their report was a very full account of this interesting episode in Virginia history, and the finding was very much against (Governor P.erkeley. Moryson soon after re- turned to England, and died there not long after. He left a widow Cecilia, sister of Giles Rawlins, and a son Henry, who in 1699 was colonel of the Colstream Foot Guards. Col- onel Moryson was preceded to Virginia by his two brothers — Richard and Robert Mory- son, who also commanded at Point Comfort, and after Major Moryson his nephew Charles, son of Richard Moryson, held commission about 1664. His sister, Letitia Moryson. was wife of the noble cavalier, Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland.

Jeffreys, Herbert, commissioned lieutenant- governor November 11, 1675, was an officer in the English army and commanded the regi- ment sent over to Virginia in 1676 to put down the rebellion of Bacon. He was also head of the commission to enquire into the causes of the troubles in Virginia, Major Francis Moryson, and Sir John Berry, admiral of the fleet, being the other members. He arrived in Virginia, February 2, 1677, and encamped his troops among the ruins of the brick build- ings at Jamestown, which had been burned by Nathaniel Bacon. The commissioners made the residence of Colonel Thv>mas Swann, at Swann's Point, on the other side of the river, their headquarters, whence they issued a call to the different counties for a statement of their grievances. From the first their relations with Berkeley were far from sympathetic. Upon the departure of Berkeley from the