Name: _____________________________
Title?
One spring day, the hungry settlers at Jamestown
saw two little ships sailing up the James River. They
hoped the Virginia Company was sending them food, but
they were wrong. The company had not sent these ships.
The two ships were bringing settlers who had been
shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
John Rolfe and about a hundred other men, women, and children had sailed from
England in June 1609. Their ship ran into a storm and was wrecked, but all the settlers got
safely ashore. They were on one of the Bermuda Islands, about 700 miles from Virginia. For
months they worked to build two little ships. At last, nearly a year after they had left England,
they sailed up the river to Jamestown.
The shipwrecked settlers hoped to find a strong colony at Jamestown. But they found
only sixty hungry and sick people who had lived through the Starving Time. The Jamestown
people wanted to go back to England. They wanted to burn the town where they had been so
unhappy. John Rolfe and his friends would not let them burn Jamestown, but they said they
would take them back to England. They all set sail and started down the James River. The
settlers decided to abandon the colony! If they left, would there be a permanent English
settlement in Virginia anymore? No! But fate would not have this, because they had gone
only a little way down the river when they met a ship sailing toward them! Help had come
from England at last!
The Virginia Company had sent Lord Delaware to be the first governor of the Virginia
Colony. Up to this time, the head of the colony had been called the president. Lord Delaware
brought new settlers and plenty of food for all of the hungry people. Everyone went back to
Jamestown, and the colony of Virginia was saved. Jamestown remained permanent. It would
survive after all.
Soon, the Virginia Company decided to let some of the settlers have land of their own.
Before this, the men had worked together in the one big Jamestown garden. They had not
liked this, because they wanted gardens of their own.
A man who had his own land felt more at home in Virginia. He could live on his own
land and plant what he liked in his garden. Now the settlers raised more food, and there were
no more starving times. Settlers who had farms of their own were called planters, and their
farms were called plantations.
Directions: Choose and circle the best (most specific) answer.
1. What sailed up the James River toward
Jamestown after the Starving Time?
A. 2 ships sent by the Virginia Company
B. The Spanish Armada
C. 2 ships that had been shipwrecked carrying
supplies
D. 2 ships bringing settlers who had been
shipwrecked
2. Where had the settlers been shipwrecked?
A. England
B. Virginia
C. Bermuda
D. Atlantic Ocean
3. How many were left at Jamestown when these
settlers arrived?
A. sixty
B. one hundred and four
C. seventy
D. eighty
4. Who was with the shipwrecked settlers?
A. John Smith
B. John Rolfe
C. John Cliff
D. Lord Delaware
5. What did the settlers at Jamestown want to
do?
A. Burn Jamestown and sail back to England
B. Make war with the Indians to steal more
corn
C. Welcome the new settlers and include them
in their colony
D. Set up a new government and garden
6. What does the word “abandon” mean?
A. To forget and never remember again
B. To give up and leave behind
C. To accept and work harder
D. To give money to and make friends with
7. What came sailing up the James River just as
the settlers were leaving Jamestown?
A. A supply ship from the Virginia Company
B. A Spanish galleon ready for war
C. A shipwreck with more settlers
D. An Indian war party ready to attack
8. Up to this time, who had been the leader of the
colony at Jamestown?
A. governor
B. burgesses
C. king’s assistants
D. president
9. Who had the Virginia Company sent to govern
the colony at Jamestown?
A. burgesses
B. a president
C. a governor
D. a king
10. What had the colonists survived on for food?
A. A community garden
B. Individual gardens
C. A garden the Indians helped with
D. An English garden to remind them of home
11. What were settlers who had farms of their own
called?
A. colonists
B. planters
C. pirates
D. council members
12. What were the planters’ individual farms
called?
A. plantations
B. ranches
C. land partitions
D. Jamestown plots
13. What is the best title for this reading passage?
A. John Rolfe and Pocahontas
B. The Shipwreck in Bermuda
C. Jamestown Survives
D. John Smith Returns