Person:Alicia (1)

Overview

Very little is known of the European antecedents or maiden name of Alice Traveller, for her name was "Alice Traveller" when she booked passage to the new world (probably from the "English colony" in Holland); indicating that she was already married to George Traveller. She would have been sixteen or seventeen years of age when she arrived on the Eastern Shore in 1630. It would be a fair statement to say that she chanced the perilous ocean voyage, marriage to an older man, and the knowledge that new life on the Eastern Shore would be harsh - because for her it was exceedingly preferable to her existing situation.Shields, undated

While Alicia's maiden name is unknown, though she appears in numerous records of Virginia's eastern shore under her various married names. Lingstedt 1921 provides a discussion of her marriages:

1. She had first married George Traveller Traveller was on the Eastern shore by 1633, died by February 1642.

2. She next married (1643) William Burdette. Burdette died soon thereafter

3. She then married Peter Walker sometimes before January 1645/6. "Peter Walker, rich and with many honors, died in 1655 at 39 years of age."

4. She married last John Custis by 1656.

It is unclear whether Alicia bore children by any of her husbands.

George Traveller left bequests to several children but they seem to have been born to his first wife. Alicia's marriage to William Burdette was quite brief, with no identified children. When Peter Walker died in 1655 at age 39 he had been married to Alicia for ten years, and identified five children: Peter, Henry, James and Daniel and daughter Elizabeth. It seems likely that at least some of these chldren were by Alicia, but how many, if any, is not certain.