Utie, John, first appears in Virginia in Feb., 1623, when Ensign John Utie is returned in the census as living at Hog Island with his wife and son John, then an infant. In the year following, he had a grant of 100 acres on the south side of James river, and in 1629 was burgess for the plantations between Archer's Hope and Martin's Hundred and for Hog Island in 1629-30. On May 29, 1630, Governor Harvey writes that since his (Harvey's) arrival in Virginia, he had added Captain John Utie to the council, and on December 20, 1631, Utie was one of the signers of the accord between the government and council. On Oct. 8, 1630, a resolution of the council stated that Capt. John West and John Utie had "seated" the first settlement on the York river, and ordered that they should each receive 600 acres there for so doing. later Capt. Utie added largely to his estate in that region and named his whole property "Utiemaria." When Harvey's misgovernment became unbearable, Utie was one of the leaders of the opposition to him and took part in the final scene which ended in the governor's deposition. When the governor struck George Menifie on the shoulder and told him he arrested him in the king's name for high treason, Utie, according to Harvey's own statement, struck him (the governor) "a very great and violent stroke upon the shoulder and said with a loud voice, 'I arrest you for treason,'" whereupon the rest of the councillors crowded about Harvey and laid hold of him. It seems likely that the cause of the councillors laying hold of Harvey was, as is stated in Mathews' account, because on Utie's rejoinder, the governor's rage became so violent that they were obliged to restrain him to prevent harm being wrought. An act so extreme on the part of the colonists did not, of course, pass unnoticed by the authorities in England and, on Dec. 22, 1635, the privy council recommended to the king that the persons who took the leading part in deposing Harvey, Mathews, Utie, etc., should be ordered sent to England "to answer their misdemeanors, they being the prime actors in the late mutiny in Virginia." Just what was done in the case does not appear, but apparently before their case came to actual trial, they were allowed to return to Virginia and their prosecution dropped. On May 25, 1637, West, Mathews, Utie and Peirce petitioned the English privy council, stating that they had been lately sent prisoners, and that they had heard by recent letters that divers of their goods, cattle and servants, had been seized by order of Governor Harvey and begged that a letter might be written commanding that the property be restored. The petition was granted and the required letter written, but, in case of Mathews at least, a second order from the privy council was needed before Harvey would disgorge. Capt Utie probably died soon after his return to Virginia, that is, if he did return, of which there is no positive evidence.
