Person:George Percy (3)

George Percy
d.Mar 1632
Facts and Events
Name George Percy
Gender Male
Birth[1][2][3] 4 Sep 1580 Northumberland, England
Christening[2] 4 Sep 1580
Death[1][2][3] Mar 1632 died unmarried ; no known issue
Reference Number? Q2358099?
References
  1. 1.0 1.1 George Percy, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

    the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

    George Percy (4 September 1580 – 1632) was an English explorer, author, and early Colonial Governor of Virginia.

    This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at George Percy. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Brydges, Egerton. Collins's peerage of England, genealogical, biographical, and historical, greatly augmented, and continued to the present time. (London: [T. Bensley], 1812)
    2:381.

    never married

  3. 3.0 3.1 Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., c1915)
    1:35.

    Percy, George, fifth president of the council, was the eighth son of Henry, eighth Earl of Northumberland, by his wife Catherine, eldest daughter and co-heir of John Neville, Lord Latimer, was born September 4, 1580, served for a time in the Low countries, and sailed for Virginia in the first expedition, December, 1606. Here he was very useful in obtaining corn from the Indians and assisting in the explorations. When the settlers, who came over under the second charter, appeared at Jamestown without their governor or their charter, Percy was persuaded to accept the presidency on the expiration of Smith's term of office. Probably no ability as a leader could have accomplished anything, and Percy was soon incapacitated by illness. The period of his administration is known as the starving time. The new settlers had landed sick and without adequate supplies, and they soon consumed the provision that the old settlers had at Jamestown. The consequence was that they nearly all died, and there were only sixty settlers remaining, when the governor under the new commission, Sir Thomas Gates arrived from Bermuda where he had been wrecked and compelled to remain for forty weeks. When Lord Delaware left Virginia in March, 1611 Percy was appointed deputy governor, which shows the confidence entertained in him, despite his unfortunate experiences. He was a brave soldier, and in punishment for treachery attacked and destroyed the towns of the Paspaheghs and of the Appamattox people. He left Virginia, but about 1625, when war was declared against Spain, he went again to the Netherlands where as captain of a company he distinguished himself, losing a finger in battle. He died unmarried in 1632.

    He kept a journal of the original Virginia voyage, an abridgement of which was published for the first time in 1625 by Samuel Purchas. Mutilated as it was, it presents the fullest account we have of the voyage and of the first events of the settlement to Newport's departure June 12, 1607. After the appearance of Smith's "General Historie" with his very prejudiced account of the affairs during the time of Percy's government, Captain Percy wrote "A Trewe Relacyon" of the occurrences in Virginia from the time of the shipwreck of Sir Thomas Gates in 1609 until his own departure from the country in 1612. In a letter to his brother Henry, Earl of Northumberland, he declared that his account was induced by the many untruths formerly published. This interesting narrative still remains in manuscript owing to the narrow conceptions of its present possessor, although he as suffered some few extracts to be published by Dr. E. D. Neill and Mr. G. C. Eggleston.