Notes on Thomas Glascock
some sources list his parents as Henry Glascock(bef 1590) and Marjory Fitch.
THOMAS GLASCOCK (1620-1663) Just what forces combined to cause Thomas to leave England are unknown. We do know that England was in those
days a very distraught country, for the Great Rebellion--the bitter struggle between King Charles I and Parliament for control of the country--was in process.
England's Civil War began in 1642 and the battle between the Royalist Cavaliers, who supported the reigning Stuart king, and the Roundheads, who supported
Parliament and Oliver Cromwell for political and religious control of the country soon split the nation into two armed camps. 1643 was a bloody year in England
and, as in all wars, many people suffered great hardships. Some of them left the country and emigrated to America--and among these emigrants was Thomas
Glascock. Perhaps he was a disillusioned Cavalier. During the war a considerable number of these Royalists came to Virginia because it held steadfast to the
Crown and the old reign of Charles I under the rule of Sir William Berkely. Berkely, a rich young Royalist, had been commissioned governor of Virginia by
Charles and arrived in 1642, about a year ahead of Thomas. Perhaps he left for religious reasons for believers of the established Church of England were at the
threats of Puritans and reformers, and vice versa during these dare days. Or perhaps he was just an adventurous younger son who wanted to try his luck as a
Virginia planter. One of Thomas' 1643 patents was for 130 acres in Warwick River County "parallel to his own and land of John Leyden and adjacent to land of
Thomas Davis" for transporting three persons to Virginia from England. John Leyden's patents, issued in 1636, are for land on the "Old" Poquoson River, the
"New" Poquosin River, and the James River. Thus it appears that Thomas' 1643 patent was for land on the lower part of the peninsula between the James and
the York Rivers and situated near the James River somewhat between Newport News, Hampton and Yorktown, now mostly a heavily populated city area. On
August 30, 1643, Thomas also patented 200 acres "a mile and a half upon the South side of Peankatanke River, adj Christopher Royce" for transporting 4
persons to Virginia. Two of the four were himself and his wife Jane. We are sure that he lived on this patent, for in 1652 he was appointed Justice of the Peace
for the Peankatanke area by the Burgesses, sitting at Jamestown. The Peankatanke River is north of his other patent, in York County on the peninsula between
the York and Rappahannock Rivers, and it flows into the Chesapeake Bay just a few miles below the mouth of the Rappahannock. The first patent on the
Peankatanke was granted in 1642 and only four others were granted before Thomas', so we know that he was one of the first settlers in the area. Settlement
started around Jamestown, moved up and down the James River, and then spread further north and south along the Tidewater coast as Indians were driven back
and more settlers arrived. John Leydon (or Laydon) is listed in the records as an "Ancient Planter"...one who arrived in Virginia before 1616. In fact, he arrived
with John Smith and the first settlers, at age 27, on the "Susan Constant" in 1607. He married a maid who came in 1608, and the wedding was the first one
solemnized in English America. He survived the massacre of 1622 and by the time of the muster of 1624/1625 only one other man is listed as a survivor of the
first settlement of 1607--so he was apparently the oldest and the last of the original settlers. If Thomas did live next to him in 1643, the 63 year old Leyden and
his wife must have had some interesting tales to tell of the suffering and trials of the first 36 years of the colony! Thomas' other neighbor, Thomas Davis, was the
son of James Davis, also an "Ancient Planter" who had died before 1633. We can only speculate about what contact the Glascocks had with these earliest
settlers at the Jamestown settlement, but it is interesting to learn that Glascock's patent was apparently between the patents of these revered "Ancient Planters."
On June 28, 1652, Thomas Glascock patented 600 acres in Lancaster County, 200 acres of which were granted upon his surrendering "200 acres on
Peankatanke River formerly granted." This transaction proves that the Glascocks arrived in Lancaster County in 1652. Here the Glascocks set about the task of
building a home and clearing land for tobacco. The typical Virginia dwelling of that day was a frame one and a half story building, with brick underpinning and high
chimneys at either end. Nails were so hard to get that settlers often burned their homes when moving in order to get nails to start a new house. After the house
was built, the forests had to be cleared. After the trees were cut, the stumps had to be dug up and the soil broken up with hoes before the tobacco could be
planted. Probably Thomas had some of his headrights or indentured servants help his sons and him with this hard labor. So their tobacco plantation began to grow
and Thomas established a way of life as a Rappahannock River planter that was to continue for generations in the Glascock family. Little else is known about the
lives of Thomas and Jane. It is probable that Thomas died before June 3, 1667, for on that date his son, Gregory, was in possession of the Morattico Creek land
which had been granted to him in 1662. No record of his or his wife's death; Thomas Glascock's will is presumably in lost will book (1692-1709) of Richmond
County. Commissioner, Warwick County, 1652. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts Volume 26, York County, 1648-1657 by Fleet, page 43).
39, 52, 249
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