CastleTownsend’s (DNA) move to Jamestown in 1621: New World
Richard Townsend of England born in 1606 came to Jamestown as indentured servant to
Dr John Potts notable Surgeon and Apothecarist. After some time wherein Richard
believed he was not being taught skills by Jamestown’s beloved Potts, Richard applied to
the House of Burgess enacted in 1619, and only 3 years old. Townsend presented his
arguments to the representative which came from the ‘Virginia Company’, and was
freed. He was also awarded 21 acres of former “Indian land” to the S.W. of Jamestown; it
was a way to expand at Richard’s expense. He did marry, and began a family there
fathering four children and earning the respect of other colonist who began to call him
Captain Richard.
Without reciting the difficulties on homesteading on Indian land in 1626-35, I should tell
you there were conflicts with natives who knew Townsend was encroaching on hunting
and fishing land that was theirs. With his 4 child, William, Richard Townsend as a back
woodsman began to know how to clear, work, and kill wild animals. He raised some
crops and soon began to foster some tobacco on his land. When William was of age he
was to take a wife and move south on the Rivers which led to free land. This idea of
new lands and opportunity to carve out one’s independence, free of restrictions of a
strong church, or Royal dominance locally was intriguing. Down the Chowan came
William and others to settle up and down what was the Shaftsbury Precinct, leading
into the vast Albemarle Precinct of NC.
This land was fruitful, full of waters and not to far from Virginia settlements which
offered shipping, supplies, relatives, and sometimes balance for those that pioneered
South and southeast in to what in 1663 Charles II referred to as Carolina (Ribunlt 1550)
Though Chowan County was the great jumping off place for Townsend’s, and many
Virginia families who sought new, free lands records of early land deeds and
Records are scarce to none. Both great fires of the 1800s and colonial ravages seem
To have made most all records unavailable, except for the county’s recognition that
It was such an initial settling place for Virginians.
William Townsend and his son William were to settle in these parts, and when William Jr
was of age, he too married and fathered children. As reported in wills, such as Mary
Maxwell* of Robeson, a “Thomas” Townsend was fathered by William (Jr) in Chowan,
NC. North Carolina was to be recognized as a colony in 1711, and stood with Virginia
precincts adjacent Virginia herself as one of the original colonies.
What made the N.C. Precincts so attractive, was: There was to be no taxes to newcomers,
no debts from before for 5 years. This allowed many struggling colonist to cast their lot
with N.E. NC. Samuel Stephens watched over the people led by Wm. Drummond who
flooded by Scotch Presbyterian ideas or Quaker “leave me alone” ideas espoused by
George Fox. This was convincing for folks who simple wanted the past to go away.
THOMAS Townsend, the real father to the NC Townsend for hundreds of years was
Born in Chowan precinct 1726. His life marks the remarkable tale of a colonial man
On the go. As a young man he joined the Topsail Island Light Infantry, and fought the
*Mary Maxwell. Mother to Leticia McConkey who married Thomas Townsend circa
1748 in W.Bladen Co, NC. (now Robeson Co, NC, USA)