Settlers at Jamestown
When we think about some of America’s first settlers, the
Mayflower landing in 1620 often comes to mind. But the colonization of North
American began before the Pilgrims, with the founding of Jamestown in 1607.
According to Robert Railton, Australia-based scholar and
Ancestry member, the success of the colony depended on “the labor of British
convicts, vagabonds and waifs swept from the streets of British cities.”
What Were Their Lives Like?
HMS Discovery, a prison ship much like the ones convicts
were transported on.
Railton’s in-depth research indicates that many British
convicts traveled to their destination on uncomfortable, rat-infested cargo
ships. Crimes that attracted banishment were ones against society, such as
theft and deception. The most common crime committed by British convicts
shipped to America was theft.
The gender ratio for males to females was 2:1. Ages varied
wildly; one girl was aged nine and four boys were 10 years old. In contrast, 19
men and 11 women were in their nineties. The convicts’ sentences varied from
seven or 14 years to life in prison.
Sometimes converted from slave-trading ships, the 100-plus
transport vessels carried up to 300 convicts, in appalling conditions.
Convicts who survived the horrendous passage were cleaned.
Then they were advertised in newspapers and sold, with men priced at up to 20
British pounds and women up to 9 pounds. The human cargo trade made fortunes
for those involved on both sides of the Atlantic.
Cultivation of Tobacco at Jamestown, 1615.
Traded females usually worked in the homes of tobacco
plantation “masters,” Railton says. Their male counterparts mainly worked on
the plantations or did other manual labor.
In Railton’s view, the viable colonies that convicts helped
establish in the Chesapeake area enabled further colonial expansion, which
would have been impossible without their toil:
“Despite all the privations endured by convicts,
transportation gave them a second chance at making an honest, useful life and
even prospering in their new environment. Harsh as it was for them, the
alternative was worse!”
Australians and Americans More Alike Than They Think
Between 50,000 and 120,000 British convicts were transported
to America, a fact that makes many Americans “incredulous,” says Railton. This
is often because convicts were politely referred to as “servants.”
In addition, the scarcity of distinct record sets for
convicts decreases the odds of Americans knowing about their British convict
ancestors.
Railton is an advocate for Americans discovering their
similarities to Australians, “I also think it is important for people to
understand that Australians are not unique in having convict ancestors.”
Convict Records A Rich Resource
A register of the prisoners held at Booth-Hall in
Gloucestershire, England. Could they have been sent to America, just like those
in Jamestown?
You don’t have to be a Mayflower descendant to have a
fascinating colonial past.
