1671 - English Explorers in the Ohio Valley

The Blue Ridge Mountains
(painting by Penny Johnson)

January, 1671 - Benjamin Johnson is appointed executioner of New York.

February, 1671 - 86 new immigrants from Barbados land at Charles Town, Carolina.

February 29, 1671 - In a letter to the residents of Delaware given to Peter Rambo, Governor Francis Lovelace writes about Indian affairs that he recommends to his counterpart caution and vigilance, remembering that the security of the colony remains his main concern.

William Sayle
(1590-1671)

March 4, 1671 - Governor of Carolina William Sayle dies at Charles Town. The council of the colony appoints in his place Captain Joseph West.

He made an alarming state of the colony, judging that an important part of the population lived under the influence of rum and was unfit to work. Other officials who worried about the loosening of morals urged the Lords Proprietors to send without delay a competent and rigorous minister.

March, 1671 - Thomas Delavall is elected mayor of New York, a position that he previously held from 1666 to 1667. He succeeds Cornelis Van Steenwyck.

Metacomet a.k.a. Philip
King of the Wampanoag

March, 1671 - Hugh Cole, a resident of Swansea, goes to Plymouth to tell that he had seen Narragansetts repairing guns and making weapons at Mount Hope, where Metacomet (Philip) lives.

March 21, 1671 – The Council of Ashley River, Carolina writes to the Lords Proprietors requesting the revocation of the land surveyor Florence O' Sullivan, deemed incompetent in favor of John Culpeper of whom it boasts capabiliities.

John Culpeper (Fleckenham (Worcesters.), 1633 or 1644 - before 1693) - He had appeared on July 15, 1670 at the Court of North Carolina as a lawyer representing the interests of Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia and Proprietor at Albemarle. He had come to demand the administration of Samuel Stephen's domain, died shortly before. The reason for his mission was certainly the fact that Frances, Stephen’s widow, had not only married Berkeley the previous month but was also to be her sister. Culpeper stayed only a short time at Albemarle and moved to Charles Town in February, 1671.

April, 1671 - the body of young Zachary Smith is found murdered in the forest near Dedham Village, Massachusets. Three Indians, suspected of regularly attending the place, are found guilty and hanged at Boston Commons.

According to the custom, their heads were then cut off and set on top of a pole. Among the 3 convicted was the son of Matoonas, a local Nipmuck chief, become Christian who would be soon to show his resentment.

April, 1671 - John Winthrop, Jr. is reelected governor of Connecticut.

April 15, 1671 - Captain Carr comes to the meeting of the New York council bringing with him thirteen proposals for the future of the Delaware colony that he intends to submit to the governor.

1 – Erect a watchtower in the center of the town of New Castle, considered the only city able to defend itself against an Indian raid.

2 - Ban all the boats from New York to sail upstream from New Castle in order to safeguard business activities of the city, threatened to ruin otherwise.

3 - Prohibit strong liquor brewing, considering that the distillation of barley takes up too many means and resources.

4 - Restrict the number of liquor traders.

5 - Authorize those responsible of the police to wear the king’s coat of arms.

6 - Allow the judges to exhibit the royal coat of arms in the courts.

7 - Validate land concessions granted by the representatives of Delaware for new plantations.

8 - Support the building of the stretch of road between New Castle and Maryland.

9 - Strengthen the local government authority for roads maintenance and security of the colony

10 - Appoint an inspector for corn, ox and hog.

11 - Make a public use of the mill at Carcoons Hook built in the time of governor Johan Printz.

12 - Limit the quantities of liquor sold to Indians.

13 – Tear dilapidated houses down in the old fort to build new ones.

May, 1671 - Richard Bellingham is reelected governor of Massachusetts for the sixth consecutive time.

May 23, 1671 - Colonel Edmund Scarborough dies in Accomack County, Virginia at the age of 54.

A controversial figure of the colonization, he was known for having vainly defended rights on Kent Island after it was transferred to Maryland. Actively involved in the political life of Virginia, he was repeatedly a member of the House of Burgesses but he is mostly remembered for his rough temper and abuses of power. A devotee of the coup, he was often considered as a big unscrupulous owner, showing no hesitation in using the most reprehensible ways to eliminate opponents. He behaved in this way with Indians and Quakers.

June, 1671 - Thomas Prence is reelected governor of Plymouth. He is also appointed commissioner to the United Colonies of New England together with Josiah Winslow.

June 14, 1671 - Governor Francis Lovelace and the council of New York accept in full the proposals on Delaware subjected by Captain Carr in the previous meeting.

June 14, 1671 – In order to meet the wishes of the people of New Castle to become the choke point of the trade activity on the Delaware River, the governor and the council of New York prevent all cargo ships to go further upstream.

Awaskonks
Chief of the Sakonnet

July, 1671 - the native Indians of Cape Cod are consulted for the ratification of a new treaty with the Plymouth colony. Awashonks, the woman chief of the Sikonnet tribe in Rhode Island and the sachem of Assawompset sign with the General Court the "Articles of Agreement" which are a peace settlement in return for which they are committed to disarm. Therefore, they refrain from providing support to Philip (Metacomet).

August, 1671 - Controversy grows between Philip (Metacomet) and the government of Plymouth on the confiscation of weapons possessed by the Pokanokets (tribe attached to Wampanoag of which the leader he is).

Philip was again accused of plotting. During a meeting at Taunton, he had even ordered his men to direct their guns toward the English.

August 11, 1671 - Governor of New York Francis Lovelace grants the request of Lutheran Pastor Jacob Fabritius to make a farewell sermon to his parishioners. He is about to leave for Delaware where Captain Carr looks forward to him.

Born in Silesia, Reverend Fabritius arrived from Holland in 1669 and was given the parish of Albany by Governor Lovelace. He quickly stood out by an atypical behavior, drinking, swearing and dressing in red, what was worth to him being suspended in early 1670. He met shortly after Annetje Cornelis, a young widow whom he married on next April 13th.

There had been no more Lutheran minister in the colony during a decade, the latest had been John Ernest Gutwasser to whom the Dutch authorities had forbidden to preach before deporting him in 1659.

September 1st, 1671 - Visiting Boston, English traveller John Josselyn is struck by how the people are prone to stomach flu, fevers and " blood flows ".

September 1st, 1671 - 500 new immigrants including two hundred slaves land at Charles Town, Carolina, sailing from Barbados. They are headed by the planter John Yeamans, approached by Lord Clarendon to become the next governor.

John Yeamans (1610-1674)

John Yeamans (Bristol 1610 - Charles Town 1674) - Eldest son of a rich brewer, he preferred to leave to his brother Robert the direction of the father’s affair to take his chance in the Barbados. He had become one of the most prosperous sugar cane growers when he married in 1650 his second wife Margaret. But Yeaman was now suspected of having poisoned Colonel Berringer, her husband, to take over his domain.

He was among the first involved in the colonization of Carolina and founded in 1663 a settlement at the mouth of the Cap Fear River the governor of which he was at the time appointed. The adventure however ended in failure and Yeaman returned three years later to the West Indies.

Batts, Woods and Fallam Journey

September 1^st, 1671 - The explorers Thomas Batts, Thomas Woods and Robert Fallam leave Fort Henry on the Appomatox River (near current Petersburg, Virginia) for an expedition that will lead them beyond the western mountains (Blue Ridge Mountains) for discovering rivers of the other wathershed and the South Sea into which they flow.

Their journey had received permission from Governor William Berkeley and was supervised by Major General Abraham Wood whose purpose was to visit new territories and make contact with Indian tribes likely to provision his fur trade. Penecute, a reputable Appomateck, accompanied them as well as Jack Weason. They also had five horses.

They reached two weeks later a place called Swope’s Knob (in present day Monroe County, West Virginia) and discovered the New River, flowing westward.

They were not the first to reach the limits of current West Virginia but their discovery allowed England to claim the Ohio valley. The French considered on their side that Cavelier de La Salle was the first to explore the Ohio River in 1669, ushering in a feud that will last more than hundred years.

September, 1671 - further to the response of Massachusetts, Philip (Metacom) agrees finally to sign the new peace treaty proposed by the government of Plymouth and promises allegiance.

Accused of infidelity, he was fined £ 100 had no alternative to submitting to the colonial authorities.

September 25, 1671 - In a meeting held at Fort James, Delaware, attended by Governor of New Jersey Philip Carteret, the decision is made to prepare for war against the Indians.

The relations with the Indians actually became increasingly strained in the Delaware colony. These had killed two Dutch settlers on the island of Matiniconck (present Burlington Island on the Delaware River) who worked for the account of Peter Alrich.

November 7, 1671 – a meeting is held in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with the representatives of Delaware Peter Alrich and Israel Helme to decide what to do with the Indians following the murder of two Dutch settlers. These had actually to surrender the perpetrators but broke their promise.

With winter coming, it was decided to wait until the following year to declare war on the Indians. The settlers believed not having enough time to shelter the hay for livestock. It was the same for milling wheat that needed to be protected during the bad season, knowing that the crops were short and the risk of starvation not to be excluded. The war was postponed until spring, the time to get ready and ask the governor to provide men, ammunition and salt. Representatives of the two provinces also wanted to be built two garrisoned border posts on the Island Mattiniconck and at Wiccaco (current Southwark near present Philadelphia).

Governor Lovelace issued, shortly after, an admonition to Captain Carr, blaming him not only for taking too long to declare the war, but also to neglect the maintenance of the fort of New Castle. He therefore looked forward to tour next spring in Delaware and hoped that the murderers were captured by then, dead or alive.

In turn, the Finns did not support a war against the Indians, having no complaint to argue against them. They have been once charged of the killing of a woman and her four children but actually, these had drowned during a storm between Maryland and Delaware. The Finns even enjoyed the confidence of the Indian chiefs who were committed with Peter Rambo to find the murderers of the Dutch settlers and to hand over them dead or alive to him. The promise was kept and the criminals arrested, executed and their bodies brought to the authorities of the colony.

These disorders resulted from the fact that the Indians were mostly treated with brutality by the English of Virginia and Maryland whom they particularly blamed for grabbing their lands without compensation. They feared that the settlers do now the same also in Delaware if nobody prevented them.

December 23, 1671 – Samuel Hubbard founds in Newport, Rhode Island, the first Baptist Church of the Seventh Day.

Samuel Hubbard (Mendelsham (Suffolk), 1610 - 1688/92) - Condemned as heretic, his grandfather Thomas Hubbard, a gentleman from Essex was burnt alive May 26, 1555, by order of the bishop of London, for refusing to renounce his Protestant faith. 

Samuel Hubbard arrived at Salem in 1633 with his wife Tacy on the James Grant but felt quickly uncomfortable with the rules laid down by the authorities of Boston. He joined late 1635 the group of Roger Ludlow which left Watertown, Massachusetts, in early winter to found the town of Windsor near the Connecticut River (January 4, 1636). He was however forced to leave this area to escape the persecutions that struck the Baptist congregation to which he belonged. He found refuge in Rhode Island in 1648 where he was well received. He also became the same general notary from 1664 before founding with his wife, his daughter and a small group of friends, the Baptist Church of the Seventh Day.

Map of Virginia & Carolina
(John Ogilby and Arnoldus Montanus, 1671)

December 30, 1671 - the Lords Proprietors of Carolina officially appoint John Culpeper General Surveyor of Albemarle and Charles Town, replacing Florence O' Sullivan.

In any case, it seems that Governor William Berkeley was involved in this appointment. He sent, indeed, several letters to London shortly after John Culpeper moved to Carolina, asking that his wife’s brother, Alexander Culpeper, is approved as general land surveyor of Virginia. This request succeeds a few weeks hardly before John obtains the same post in Charles Town.

Both land surveyors, brothers Alexander and John Culpeper were the sons of Thomas Culpeper and Katherine Saint Léger. Their father had inherited in 1623 his own father’s shares of the Virginia Company and was an original patentee of the Northern Neck of Virginia from 1649. Thomas and Katherine Culpeper had also a daughter, Frances, who married as second husband Governor William Berkeley in 1670.