A Jamestown Settler describes life in Virginia, 1622

Contributed by:

Steve Wed, Feb 02, 2022 01:29 PM UTC

This booklet is a letter from Jamestown colonist Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hover, a Dutch merchant living in London that provides a snapshot of the colony in flux.

1. 1
A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622
The first English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, who arrived in 1607, were eager to find gold
and silver. Instead they found sickness and disease. Eventually, these colonists learned how to
survive in their new environment, and by the middle of the seventeenth century they discovered
that their fortunes lay in growing tobacco.
This 1622 letter from Jamestown colonist Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hovener, a Dutch merchant
living in London, provides a snapshot of the colony in flux. Brandt, who likely arrived in 1619 in
a wave of 1,200 immigrants, writes of his wife’s and brother’s deaths the previous year almost in
passing. He mentions that, due to his own illness, he “was not able to travell up and downe the
hills and dales of these countries but doo nowe intend every daye to walke up and downe the
hills for good Mineralls here is both golde silver and copper.” Most of Brandt’s letter is devoted
to its real purpose: putting in orders for cheese, vinegar, tools, spices, and other assorted goods
from the London Company that were not available in Virginia. Interestingly, he promises to pay
in tobacco and furs—not in the gold and copper he’s looking for.
We know little about Brandt. He does not appear in any known existing official records, and
historians presume he died not long after writing this letter. The glimpse he offers into early
Jamestown serves as a tantalizing example of the challenges and thrills of studying colonial
American history.
Questions for Discussion
Read the document introduction and transcript and apply your knowledge of American history in
order to answer these questions.
1. Carefully view the printable image of the document. Describe the skills an archivist needs
to transform an original document into a format we can understand.
2. In the very first sentence of Sebastian Brandt’s letter he mentions that his “brother and
. . . wyfe are dead aboute a year” and does not mention them again. How does this matter-
of-fact statement help us understand conditions faced by settlers in Virginia in the early
1600s?
3. What conclusions can you draw about Brandt knowing that he continued to search for
precious metals after most Jamestown settlers were involved in agriculture?
© 2012 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
www.gilderlehrman.org

2. 2
A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622
4. Make a list of what you think you would need to survive a year in Jamestown. Compare it
with the shopping list Brandt sent to the merchant in London.
© 2012 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
www.gilderlehrman.org

3. 3
A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622
Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hovener, January 13, 1622 (The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC00708)
© 2012 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
www.gilderlehrman.org

4. 4
A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622
Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hovener, January 13, 1622 (The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC00708)
Well beloved good friend Henry Hovener
My comendations remembred, I hartely [wish] your welfare for god be thanked I am now in
good health, but my brother and my wyfe are dead aboute a yeare pass’d And touchinge the
busynesse that I came hither is nothing yett performed, by reason of my sicknesse & weaknesse I
was not able to travell up and downe the hills and dales of these countries but doo nowe intend
every daye to walke up and downe the hills for good Mineralls here is both golde silver and
copper to be had and therefore I will doe my endeavour by the grace of god to effect what I am
able to performe And I intreat you to beseeche the Right Hon: & Wor: Company in my behalfe
to grant me my freedome to be sent either to me I dowbte not to doo well & good service in these
countries humbly desyringe them also to provyde me some [appointed] fellowe & a strong boye
to assiste me in my businesse, and that it may please the aforesaid Company to send me at my
charge [2] a bed wth a bolster and cover and some Linnen for shirtes and sheetes. Sixe fallinge
bands wth Last Size pairs of shoes twoo pairs of bootes three pairs of cullered stockings and
garters wth three pairs of lether gloves some powder and shott twoo little runletts of oyle and
vinnegar some spice & suger to comfort us here in our sicknesse abowte ffyftie pounds weight of
holland and Englishe cheese together, Lykewyse some knyves, spoons, combes and all sorts of
cullerd beads as you knowe the savage Indians use Allso one Rundlett wth all sortes of yron
nayles great and small, three haire sives, two hatchetts wth twoo broad yrons and some Allum
And send all these necessaries thinges in a dry fatt wth the first shippinge dyrected unto Mr.
Pontes in James Towne here in Virginia And whatsoever this all costes I will not onely wth my
moste humble service but allso wth some good Tobacco Bevor and Otterskins and other
commodities here to be had recompence the Company for the same [3] And yf you could send
for my brother Phillipps Sonne in Darbesheere to come hether itt [were] a great commoditie ffor
me or suche another used in minerall workes And thus I comitt you to the Almighty.
Virginia 13 January 1622
Sebastian Brandt
© 2012 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
www.gilderlehrman.org

5. 5
A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia, 1622
Sebastian Brands lettre
To Mr Hofener 13, January 1622/3
That ther is Mynes of Gould
and Silver and Copper in
Notes: Sebastian Brandt’s origins are obscure. His name does not appear in any of the
regularly consulted records of Virginia – he never served on any juries and was never an official
of any kind. It is possible that he was of the Brandt family of shipbuilders of Topsham in
Devonshire, England. It seems that Brandt was lured to Virginia by exaggerated reports of the
gold and silver to be found there and that he spent at least a year there because of the references
to his wife and brother, but no more than a year because of his comment about his illness. It is
also possible that he could have arrived in 1619 when 1,200 settlers arrived at Jamestown. He
could have died from this illness or he could have returned to England once he realized there was
no gold. The reference to “Mr. Pontes” was to John Pountis (also spelled Powntis and Powntes)
who was the Admiral of the Jamestown district. Pountis would have been responsible for
receiving goods from England.
© 2012 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
www.gilderlehrman.org

Book a Trial Class

Download