First white child
Encyclopedia
The birth of the first white child was a celebrated occasion across many parts of the New World
. Such births are a matter of pride for many township
s, and they are commemorated with plaques and monuments at the location of the event. The birth was seen as such an honor that it was at times controversial as to who could claim the title. As European
conquerors and colonists spread throughout America and Australia, the birth of a "White
" child symbolized the growth and increasing permanence of their expanding civilizations.
, was the first white child born in Bulawayo
and died of fever and starvation during the Siege of Bulawayo in the Second Matabele War
. She was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery, plot #144, in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe
). Nada is the Zulu
word for lily
and she was named after the heroine in Sir H. Rider Haggard
’s Zulu tale, Nada the Lily (1892). Three of Haggard's books are posthumously dedicated to her: The Wizard (1896), Elissa: The Doom of Zimbabwe (1899), and Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll (1900). Haggard's dedication reads: To the Memory of the Child: Nada Burnham, who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through the hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at Buluwayo on 19 May 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and death.
Snorri Thorfinnsson (probably born between 1005 and 1013) was the son of Thorfinnur Karlsefni and Gudrídur Eiríksdóttir. Generally known to his contemporaries as Snorri Gudrídsson, as his mother outlived his father, he was born in Vinland
, making him the first European documented to be born in North America.
Martín de Argüelles, Jr.
, born in the Spanish
colony of St. Augustine
, Florida
, was the first white child born in what is now the continental United States. Born in 1566, his father was a hidalgo
and one of the expeditioners who went to New Spain
with Captain General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
in 1565. St. Augustine, Florida
is also the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city anywhere in the United States
excluding Puerto Rico
.
Virginia Dare
, born in 1587 at the Roanoke Colony
, was the first child born in North America to English
parents, and her memory was celebrated in the British colonies. Peregrine White
, born aboard the Mayflower
at Provincetown Harbor
in 1620, was the first Pilgrim birth. Sarah Rapelje
, born June 6, 1625, was the first white child born in New Netherland
in what is now New York state
. Born in 1659, Kristian Gaapstörm was the first child born in New Sweden
. Helena Dill Berryman, born September 8, 1804 in what is now Nacogdoches County
, was the first Anglo child born in what is now Texas
(though clearly she was not the first child of European descent).
Hélène Desportes is often cited as the first white child born in New France
in what would later be Canada
. She was born in the early 17th century, but there is considerable disagreement about whether she was born in Quebec
or before her family arrived on the continent.
n soil, but William Nash is the prime candidate. His father, also William, was a Marine Private and his mother was Maria Haynes, who came as his common-law wife (they were not married until later). There are biographical entries on both parents in The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet, by Mollie Gillen, published in 1989 (pp. 261–262). The book also lists those who were born on the voyage. William Nash was baptised on 25 May 1788 (his actual birth date is unknown), and died on 19 June 1789. A search of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Historical Indexes will show that the Birth Registry number is "1A/1788", which indicates that his is the first entry in the register for 1788 (although not necessarily proving that his was the first birth). Digitised copies of his baptismal and death register entries can be purchased from the Registry. Governor Phillip's reports are published in The Historical Records of Australia Series 1 Volume 1, but there is no mention of the first birth in the colony; on 12 February 1790 he simply states the number of births (59) and deaths (72) that had occurred to date. Unless further records are discovered, we will probably now never know definitely who was the "first born", but William Nash is the most likely.
It should also be noted that Robert Rope, son of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley (both 1st Fleet Convicts), was conceived and born on Australian soil. He was born on 30 Oct 1788 and is a strong contestant for the first white child in this country.
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. Such births are a matter of pride for many township
Township
The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...
s, and they are commemorated with plaques and monuments at the location of the event. The birth was seen as such an honor that it was at times controversial as to who could claim the title. As European
European people
European people may refer to:*Ethnic groups in Europe*Demographics of Europe*people from Europe*people from the European Union*People outside of Europe of European descent** European African or White African**White American ***European American...
conquerors and colonists spread throughout America and Australia, the birth of a "White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
" child symbolized the growth and increasing permanence of their expanding civilizations.
Rhodesia
Nada Burnham (May 1894 - May 19, 1896), daughter of the celebrated American scout Frederick Russell BurnhamFrederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.Burnham...
, was the first white child born in Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...
and died of fever and starvation during the Siege of Bulawayo in the Second Matabele War
Second Matabele War
The Second Matabele War, also known as the Matabeleland Rebellion and in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, was fought in 1896–97 between the British troops and the Ndebele people....
. She was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery, plot #144, in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
(now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
). Nada is the Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
word for lily
Agapanthus africanus
Agapanthus africanus is a native of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.It has a short stem bearing a tuft of long, narrow, arching leaves 10–35 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, and a central flower stalk 25–60 cm tall, ending in an umbel of 20-30 white, or bright blue, funnel-shaped...
and she was named after the heroine in Sir H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
’s Zulu tale, Nada the Lily (1892). Three of Haggard's books are posthumously dedicated to her: The Wizard (1896), Elissa: The Doom of Zimbabwe (1899), and Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll (1900). Haggard's dedication reads: To the Memory of the Child: Nada Burnham, who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through the hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at Buluwayo on 19 May 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and death.
North America
Vinland
Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...
, making him the first European documented to be born in North America.
Martín de Argüelles, Jr.
Martin de Arguelles
Martín de Argüelles, Jr. was the first known child of European descent born in what is now the continental United States. His birthplace in St. Augustine, Florida marks the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city anywhere in the continental United States.-Birth:Martín was born in 1566...
, born in the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colony of St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, was the first white child born in what is now the continental United States. Born in 1566, his father was a hidalgo
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
A hidalgo or fidalgo is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. In popular usage it has come to mean the non-titled nobility. Hidalgos were exempt from paying taxes, but did not necessarily own real property...
and one of the expeditioners who went to New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
with Captain General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral and explorer, best remembered for founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish foothold in La Florida and remained the most significant city in the region for several hundred years. St...
in 1565. St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
is also the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city anywhere in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
excluding Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
Virginia Dare
Virginia Dare
Virginia Dare was the first child born in the Americas to English parents, Eleanor and Ananias Dare. She was born into the short-lived Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina, USA. What became of Virginia and the other colonists remains a mystery...
, born in 1587 at the Roanoke Colony
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
, was the first child born in North America to English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
parents, and her memory was celebrated in the British colonies. Peregrine White
Peregrine White
Peregrine White was the first English child born to the Pilgrims in the New World....
, born aboard the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
at Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly 30 to deep and stretches roughly one mile from northwest to southeast and two miles from northeast to southwest, i.e., one large, deep bowl with no dredged channel necessary for...
in 1620, was the first Pilgrim birth. Sarah Rapelje
Sarah Rapelje
Sarah Rapelje, or Rapelie or Rapalje or Rapalye was the first white female of European parentage born in New Netherland, according to the New Netherland Project, a private effort to document New York's early Dutch history. Rapelje was first married to Norwegian emigrant Hans Hansen Bergen, who...
, born June 6, 1625, was the first white child born in New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
in what is now New York state
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Born in 1659, Kristian Gaapstörm was the first child born in New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
. Helena Dill Berryman, born September 8, 1804 in what is now Nacogdoches County
Nacogdoches County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 59,203 people, 22,006 households, and 14,039 families residing in the county. The population density was 62 people per square mile . There were 25,051 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...
, was the first Anglo child born in what is now Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
(though clearly she was not the first child of European descent).
Hélène Desportes is often cited as the first white child born in New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
in what would later be Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. She was born in the early 17th century, but there is considerable disagreement about whether she was born in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
or before her family arrived on the continent.
Australia
There is some conjecture about the first European birth to occur on AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n soil, but William Nash is the prime candidate. His father, also William, was a Marine Private and his mother was Maria Haynes, who came as his common-law wife (they were not married until later). There are biographical entries on both parents in The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet, by Mollie Gillen, published in 1989 (pp. 261–262). The book also lists those who were born on the voyage. William Nash was baptised on 25 May 1788 (his actual birth date is unknown), and died on 19 June 1789. A search of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Historical Indexes will show that the Birth Registry number is "1A/1788", which indicates that his is the first entry in the register for 1788 (although not necessarily proving that his was the first birth). Digitised copies of his baptismal and death register entries can be purchased from the Registry. Governor Phillip's reports are published in The Historical Records of Australia Series 1 Volume 1, but there is no mention of the first birth in the colony; on 12 February 1790 he simply states the number of births (59) and deaths (72) that had occurred to date. Unless further records are discovered, we will probably now never know definitely who was the "first born", but William Nash is the most likely.
It should also be noted that Robert Rope, son of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley (both 1st Fleet Convicts), was conceived and born on Australian soil. He was born on 30 Oct 1788 and is a strong contestant for the first white child in this country.
Further reading
- Mollie, Gillen. 1989. A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet. ISBN 0908120699