John Mottrom or Mottram, was one of the first, if not the first, white settlers in the Northern Neck

Northern Neck

The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This peninsula is bounded by the Potomac River on the north and the Rappahannock River on the south. It encompasses the following Virginia counties: Lancaster,...

 region of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 between 1635 and 1640.

Political career

Mottrom was the first burgess for what would become Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Virginia

Northumberland County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state in the United States. In 2010, its population was 12,330. Its county seat is Heathsville...

 in 1645 (one of his two times serving as a burgess). He presided over the county court

County Court

A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...

 for more than four years until his death in 1655.

Family

He was married to Mary Spencer and had at least three children by her: Anne (1639-?), John Jr. (1642-?), and Frances (1645-1720). After Mary's death, he married Ursula Bysshe Thompson, the widow of Richard Thompson, who brought three of her own children into the family, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Richard. Sarah. their daughter, married Thomas Willoughby, whose sister, Elizabeth Willoughby, married first, Simon Oversee, second, Major George Colclough, third husband of Ursula Thompson Mottrom Colclough. George Colclough died very soon after their marriage and Elizabeth then married Isaac Allerton.Jr., a trustee of the will of Mottrom's son-in-law Col. Nicholas Spencer.

Daughter Frances Mottrom was married to Col. Nicholas Spencer

Nicholas Spencer

Col. Nicholas Spencer was a London merchant who emigrated to Westmoreland County, Virginia, where he became a planter and which he represented in the Virginia House of Burgesses...

, Secretary and President of the Council and later acting Governor of the Virginia Colony (1683-1684) and patentee of the land at Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon

The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...

 with John Washington

John Washington

John Washington was an English Virginia planter and politician. He was the immigrant ancestor and great-grandfather of George Washington, first president of the United States of America.-Early life and family:...

. The Spencers named one of their children Mottrom Spencer after the child's grandfather John Mottrom. Another son of Frances Mottrom and Nicholas Spencer, William Spencer, returned to the Spencer family parish of Cople, Bedfordshire, where he served as a member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

A descendant of John Mottrom's son John Jr. was Spencer Mottrom, whose descendant was the distinguished judge Spencer Roane

Spencer Roane

Spencer Roane was a Virginia lawyer and politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and as a judge of the state's highest court.Roane was born in Essex County, Virginia, on April 4, 1762...

 (1762-1822) of Tappahannock, Virginia

Tappahannock, Virginia

Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,068 at the 2000 census. Located on the Rappahannock River, Tappahannock is the county seat of Essex County...

, for whom Roane County, West Virginia

Roane County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,446 people, 6,161 households, and 4,479 families residing in the county. The population density was 32 people per square mile . There were 7,360 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile...

 is named.

Land

Mottrom owned property along or near the Great Wicomico River

Great Wicomico River

The Great Wicomico River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia, located approximately northeast of Richmond. In 1864, during the American Civil War, one of the torpedo boats of Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet ran into the Great Wicomico River and was captured.-Geography:The Great Wicomico...

 and the Chickacoan River. He also owned land on or close to Hull, King's and Chicacone Creeks. Mottrom was probably the first Englishman to settle on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, and his retreat was a refuge for Protestants fleeing Lord Calvert's Catholic Maryland. His home, Coan Hall, served as the first county seat of Northumberland county. Mottrom was a merchant, owning a shallop with which he traded with Maryland.