Page 9 - The Fleet Family - The Fleet family in Virginia stems from one William Fleet, gent., of Chatham in Kent, a member of the Virginia Company under the third charter. Four of William’s younger sons – Edward, Reginold, John, and Henry—emigrated to Virginia in 1621 with their uncle Sir Francis Wyatt, later to be governor of the colony. While the first three brothers settled eventually in Maryland, Henry settled in Virginia, where he was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1652.
Captain William Fleet (1757 – 1833), a descendant of Henry Fleet, married Sarah Browne Tomlin, a young widow, and lived at Rural Felicity, where he was a lay representative in the Mattaponi Church. He was a member of the Virginia Constitution Covention of 1788. In 1800 he acquired Goshen, which became the family home, from Spencer Roane, a justice of the United States Supreme Court. After moving to Goshen, William Fleet became a member of the Bruington Baptist Church. Whether he was prompted by a desire to make a complete break from England in the form of the Anglican Church or whether he was influenced by his neighbor—and, later, son-in-law — Dr. Robert Baylor Semple, pastor of the Bruington church, is not clear. The family thenceforth seems to have remained loyal to the Baptist faith.