Hamor, Ralph, was a son of "Ralph Hamor the elder, of London, merchant tailor." Both father and son were members of the Virginia Company in 1609,the father paying £133.6.8. The elder Hamor was also an incorporator, and for a time, a director, of the East India Company. He died in 1615, leaving two sons, Ralph and Thomas, who both came to Virginia. Ralph came over in 1609 and remained until June 8, 1614, when he sailed for England. In the next year he published "A true discourse of the present estate of Virginia until the 18th of June 1614." Hamor stayed in England until 1617, in which year, upon the 8th of January, the company gave him eight shares in Virginia, and he soon afterwards sailed once more for the colony, arriving there in May. He seems to have returned to England again in a few years, for we find a grant to some one who is said to have, in 1621, "paid her own costs to Virginia," in the ship "Sea Flower," "with Captain Ralph Hamor." It was in the last named year that he was appointed a member of the council, an office which he retained until his death. In the massacre of 1622, Capt. Hamor was attacked by the Indians near a new house he was having built, but with the help of a few other persons, drove them off with bricks, spades, picks, etc. His brother, Thomas Hamor, who lived nearby, also escaped but was wounded. Soon after the massacre, Capt. Ralph wrote a letter to the Virginia Company, which was received in England October 22, 1622, giving an account of what had happened since that event, and saying that it was the governor's intention to attack the Indians with 500 men at the end of August. A letter from the governor and council, written Jan. 20, 1622-23, told how Capt. Hamor, "being sent to the Patomacs to trade for corn, slew divers of the Nechonicos who sought to circumvent him by treachery." On Apr 2, 1623, George Sandys wrote to England in regard to the character and capacity of the various councillors. he said that Hamor's extreme poverty forced him "to shifts." Capt Hamor married a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Clements. In 1625 his "muster" included himself, Mrs. Elizabeth Hamor, and her children, Jeremy and Elizabeth Clements. In 1626 he owned 250 acres at Hog Island, and 500 at Blunt Point, but lived at Jamestown. On March 4, 1626, and again on March 22, 1627-28, he was commissioned a councillor. He probably died soon after the latter date. In addition to his seat in the council, he held for a time, the place of recorder of the colony from 1611 to 1614.
