History and genealogy of Peter Montague, of Nansemond and ...

50 DESCENDANTS OF PETER MONTAGUE.
to this step is not known. The oppressions of royalty, which at a
later date sent so many to America, had not then begun. The
Kingdom was at peace with all the world, and the King was loved
by his people. There is a tradition^ in one branch of Peter's
descendants which can be traced back as far as 1730, to the effect
that " Peter was 'rather wild,' that. he ran away from home, went to
America, and not being ' in funds ' had not the cash to pay for his
passage and was sold for his passage money. The first half-day's
work he did ruined his hands so that he had to rest. To pass the
time he began to read his master's books, who caught him reading
Latin, and soon obtained for him the position of a school teacher."
The record of Peter's life in Va. rather precludes the idea that he
* This tradition is traced to Latane Montague, son of Abraham of Essex Co., who was
born about 1731, and if he received it from his father it would carry the date of it to A. D.
1700. It was a custom in the early settlement of America to sell political prisoners from
England for a term of years by auction. There seems to be an impression that Virginia was
settled by convicts from England. No tradition ever existed which has so little foundation
in fact. It has been stated that Hotten's Emigrant Lists were responsible for the tradition.
We have examined Hotten's lists but do not find a single record showing that prisoners of
any kind were sent there from England. The English used the Island of Barbadoes in the
West Indies for the safe keeping of political prisoners, just as St. Helena was selected for
Bonaparte. There is a difference between a convict and a political offender such as Hotten
calls ^convicted rebels.'''' Charles I., Anne Bolin, Mary Queen of Scots, the first Napoleon,
and hundreds of other royal personages have been political prisoners. At the time of the
Monmouth rebellion, 1685, England sent a large number of "rebels" convicted of being concerned
in that rebellion, to Barbadoes, men and women alike, many were the gentry, or
persons brought up and nurtured in refinement and wealth. On the arrival of each ship these
unfortunate prisoners were sold by auction for a term of years varying from five to ten years
and the miseries inflicted upon them have never been half told, delicately reared ladies often
were made to work in the fields. Those who lived to serve their time out were granted a
ticket to go where they pleased. A few such went to Virginia and New England but the
greater proportion of them went to St. Christopher, and other islands, and back to England.
Every such record in Hotten's lists has been copied, with the result that "convicted rebels"
who served their time out, who went to New England, [mostly to Boston] were 94
/
; those
who went to Virginia were ; 59 those who went to Carolina were 36.
New England as to both Va. and Carolina combined.
Thus as many went to
A study of the various Co. histories of England, and of the early emigration to both Va.
and New England, will show that the early emigrants of Virginia and New England, for the
most part bore the same names, came from the same English Counties, and that the ancestry
of both will meet in those English Counties. Surely no people can have a stronger claim to
the same ancestry.
Most, if not all of the early Va. settlers left England in a legal manner, that is they took
the oath of allegiance to the King and brought certificates from their ministers that they
were loyal to the Church of England. After the accession of Charles I. to the throne, there
was a large emigration, mostly to New England, caused by excessive and unjust taxation.
The " Ship Money " tax drove thousands to New England. They were "subsidy men " that
is, men liable to the payment of a subsidy to the Crown, and of this the " ship money" was
the most hateful. These men would not take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, and
must have left secretly, and of such no record of departure would exist. It has not been
found that any of this emigration went to Va. Hotten's Lists record only those who came
legally and the larger part of the work is a record of St. Christopher, Barbadoes, and Virginia.