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This astrological computer held the spiritual answers that have been lost for two centuries. We are now remembering these lost secrets. We are ready.

The development of this desirable crop gave the Virginia Colony its first major industry and set the stage for the introduction for slavery. It also gave Virginia a commity, which was to be used as currency. Although the reasons behind it are not clear, the first representative assembly in America met in Jamestown in 1619 to make the first laws for Virginia. It is ironic that, although indentured servants and bond slaves had been used in the colonies for some years, the first Negro slaves arrived as free men in that same year as the first representative assembly and many of them immediately indentured themselves.

Only a generation later the peculiar institution of Negro slavery would become the backbone of economic life in Virginia and the South: a life based on cruel and inhumane practice so necessary to sustain each plantation before the Industrial Revolution.

Jamestown, onee a peninsula, is now an island in the James River and all that remains is the church tower, the cemetery and the foundations. The village remained the capitol of Virginia throughout the 17th century and was almost destroyed during Bacon?s rebellion. It was partially rebuilt but fell in decay with the removal of the capitol to Williamsburg in 1700. Today we can ride across the James River by ferry to Surry County. It was into this venture that James Sowerby entered. The eldest of three brothers, it is likely that he sailed from the northeastern seaport of Hull, England. Upon his arrival in Virginia, he purchased land in Surry County, across the James River from Jamestown and it is likely that he used a ferry very much like the present day one to his new land. At the time of his death, in 1687, his two younger brothers had joined him in Virginia. The earliest actual record we have of James Sowerby is a deposition dated 1652 which can be found in the records of Surry County.

James, like the other Virginia colonists, was a business man loyal to the crown, not a religious protester like the Pilgrims who arrived in America in 1620,

thirteen years after the establishment of Jamestown. James and others paid their passage to Virginia but were able to bring along few of the comforts of life. In those early years, the main wealth of the family was their land. Education was poor. Land patents averaged 900 acres, which meant that the families were far apart to provide common schools for their children. In later years it was common for guardians and parents to leave money in their wills for their children and God-Children to learn to read. People were so hungry for education that it was commonly made a part of and indenture for an indentured servant to be required to be taught to read. For example, on 1666, Dorothy Throne was indentured to serve her master, Charles Basham, for six years and one of the requirements of her indenture was that she be taught to read. Since the records of Surry County between 1607 and 1652 were destroyed we can not be certain what year James Sowerby arrived in Jamestown. There are, however, many records which refer to him having been in Jamestown before 1652. We do know that he married a woman by the name of Ann and they had only one child, a daughter, named Margaret. In 1663, james made his brother, Thomas, the attorney of his plantation and gave Thomas full control of the land and all thereon. James? daughter, Margaret, married a well-to-do elderly planter named John Battell. They had no children. On July 1 1984, Surry County records indicate the following disposition of part of James? estate: "Margaret Sowerby married John Battell and the later has received of john Allen, 980 pounds of tobacco, 7 casks, being the estate due her and now John Battell discharges him from all claims".

Unlike James, we have a record of the immigration of Thomas Sowerby, his brother. He was brought to America in 1654 by Mr. John Brown, of Northampton County, Virginia. Thomas Sowerby also moved to Surry, County Virginia and became very prominent there. In 1655, Matthew Patnell makes his friends, James and Thomas Sowerby,

his attorney. In July, 1657, Thomas Sowerby, then aged 23, owned an interest in a boat and attempted to purchase a roundlett of power from a ship gunner. He also sat on a just in Surry Dounty, in May, 1677, and ordered the participants in Bacon?s Rebellion to pay heavily for damages caused by them in plundering the countryside. Thomas purchased 620 acres of land in Up parish in Surry County. This land was located four miles back in the woods in the freshes and adjoined thirteen other persons. He married Anna Evans, a young widow who had one son, Edward Evans. Thomas and Adda had no children of their own. Since the established religion was accepted in the colony, there were extensive church records. The church of England was quite strict and Thomas seemed to really believe in it. On December 30, 1687, he presented three people to the court for not attending church on Sunday, which was a crime. On February 2, 1683, he was commissioned to teach the orphaned son of John Collier, John Collier, Jr, the Christian religion. Thomas Sowerby died on July 10, 1695. As I previously mentioned, all county records prior to 1652 in Surry County were destroyed by fire. The land patent records were part of this, and for this reason there are no records of some of the earliest families arrival in Surry County. For example, the Jordan family was one of the earliest in the county to book published by the bicentennial committee of Surry County entitled "A Guide to the Buildings of Surry and the American Revolution" which reveals much of the land history of the county. It might be expect in the wild, primitive, dangerous environment of 17th century Surry that there was much uncertainty among the settlers. This uncertainty was expressed by frequent changes in land ownership as well as by the controversy and ambiguity often accompanying references to land. In the deeds that have survived, land descriptions are very vague.