Information AboutThomas Dale |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT THOMAS DALE | |
| james river virginia | |
| colonial governors of virginia | |
| dale, thomas | |
| 1619 deaths | |
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EARLY CAREER From about 1588 to 1609, Thomas Dale was in the service of the Low Countries ( Netherlands , England , Ireland , and France ) with the English army originally under Robert Dudley , Earl Of Leicester . Because of his ability and ambition, he became friends with many people in positions of authority. In 1599 Thomas Dale was recruited by the Earl Of Essex for England's army. After many years of training he was knighted by King James to become "Sir Thomas Dale of Surry " on June 16 , 1606 . While Dale was still serving in the Low Countries, on the recommendation of the eldest son of King James, Henry Frederick, Prince Of Wales , the States-General of the United Netherlands consented "that Captain Thomas Dale (destined by the King of Great Britain to be employed in Virginia in his Majesty's service) may absent himself from his company for the space of three years, and that his said company shall remain meanwhile vacant, to be resumed by him if he think proper." {Link without Title} LEADING THE VIRGINIA COLONY Five years later, the Virginia Company Of London sent Sir Thomas Dale to act as deputy-governor or as "Marshall of Virginia" (a new position) for the Virginia Colony under the authority of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (Lord Delaware). Sent with three ships, on May 19, 1611, he arrived at Jamestown (named after King James ) with men, cattle, and provisions. he found the conditions unhealthy and greatly in need of improvement. Dale immediately called for a meeting of the Jamestown Council, and established crews to rebuild Jamestown. He served as acting Governor for 3 months in 1611, and again for a two year period between 1614 and 1616. In the interim, he served as the Marshall of the colony, initially serving directly under Deputy Governor Sir ), was notable for its pitiless severity, and seems to have been prepared in large part by Dale himself. UPSTREAM: A BETTER ENVIRONMENT THAN JAMESTOWN Seeking a better site than Jamestown, Thomas Dale sailed up the James River (also named after King James ) to the area now known as Chesterfield County . He was apparently impressed with the possibilities of the general area where the Appomattox River joins the James River, and there are published references to the name "New Bermuda" although it apparently was never formalized. (Far from the mainland of North America , the archipelago of Bermuda had been established as part of the Virginia Colony in 1612 following the shipwreck of the '' Sea Venture '' in 1609). A short distance further up the James, in 1611, he began the construction of a progressive development at Henricus on and about what was later known as Farrars Island . Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the first college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre Of 1622 , during which a third of the colonists were killed). In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred and "Bermuda Cittie" (sic). He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap , using methods he had learned while serving in Holland . EASTERN SHORE: SALT WORKS, DALE'S GIFT In 1614, Governor Thomas Dale sent 20 men, under Lieutenant William Craddock, to the area across the Chesapeake Bay from mainland Virginia now known as the Eastern Shore to establish a salt works and to catch fish for the colonists. They intended to make salt by boiling down the sea water. They settled along Old Plantation Creek at a place named "Dale's Gift" on the mainland, but established the salt works on Smith Island , which is located adjacent to the southern portion of the Eastern Shore in present-day Northampton County near Cape Charles . {Link without Title} RETURN TO ENGLAND, PUBLICATION, DEATH Governor Dale sailed back to England in the spring of 1616 aboard the ''Treasurer''. Accompanying him on what was considered an investor-relations journey were John Rolfe , his wife Pocahontas , and their baby son, Thomas Rolfe . Queen Anne and others were reportedly charmed by Pocahontas, and investment in the Virginia Company was enhanced. However, soon after leaving London, as John Rolfe and his wife sailed down the Thames River , Pocahontas became very ill and died on March 21, 1617 while still in England. Although Dale and Pocahontas were destined to never to return to Virginia, he wrote ''A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Left by Sir Thomas Dale, Knight, in May last, 1616.'' On a new military assignment, during a subsequent trip to the West Indies , he became sick and died at sea on August 19, 1619 of a fever. LEGACY
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