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John White (surveyor)
Encyclopedia
John White was an English artist, and an early pioneer of English efforts to settle the New World. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville
to North Carolina
in 1585, acting as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island
he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin
peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American
society of the Eastern seaboard; the surviving original paintings are now stored in the print room
of the British Museum
.
Later, in 1587, White became governor of Sir Walter Raleigh's failed attempt at a permanent settlement on Roanoke island, known to history as the "Lost Colony". This unsuccessful effort represented the earliest attempt at a permanent English colony
in the New World
, and White's granddaughter Virginia Dare
was the first English child born in the New World. After the failure of the Lost Colony, White retired to Raleigh's estates in Ireland, reflecting upon the "evils and unfortunate events" which had ruined his hopes in America, though never giving up hope that his daughter and granddaughter were still alive.
, London of a "John White" on that same day; but there is no proof this is the same person. White is known to have attended church in the parish of St. Martin Ludgate in London. In 1566 he married Tomasyn Cooper; with whom he had a son, Tom, who died young, and a daughter Eleanor. Little is known of White's training as an artist but it is possible that he apprenticed as an illustrator under a London master.
to attempt to found the first English colony
in North America
. White was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh as Sir Richard Grenville
's artist-illustrator on his first voyage to the New World
; he served as mapmaker and artist to the expedition, which encountered considerable difficulties and returned to England in 1586 .
society of the Eastern seaboard, and predate the first body of "discovery voyage art" created in the late 18th century by the artists who sailed with Captain James Cook
. They represent the sole surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America, encountered by England's first settlers.
White's enthusiasm for watercolor was unusual - most contemporary painters preferred to use oil-based paints. White's watercolors would soon become a sensation in Europe and it was not long before the paintings were engraved
by the Flemish master engraver Theodore de Bry, and through the medium of print, became widely known and distributed; published in 1590 under the title "America".
After Lane's colonists returned to England in 1586 Sir Walter Raleigh, who held the land patent for the proposed English colony of Virginia
, tasked White with the job of organizing a new colony in the Chesapeake Bay
area, one which would be self-sustaining and which would include women and children. During 1586 White was able to persuade 113 prospective colonists to join Raleigh's expedition, including his daughter Eleanor
and his son-in-law Ananias Dare, recently married at St Bride's Church
in Fleet Street
. His efforts did not go unrewarded; on January 7, 1587 Raleigh named “John White of London Gentleman, to be the chief Governor” of the new colony, acting under the authority of the Virginia Company
. White, with thirteen others, were incorporated under the name of “The Governor and Assistants of the Cities of Raleigh of Virginia”.
, the same pilot who had led the 1585 expedition and who was given by his fellow sailors the unhappy nickname of "the swine". The settlers' chosen destination was not Roanoke but the Chesapeake Bay
but, on reaching Roanoake in late July, and allowing the colonists to disembark, Fernandez refused to let White's men re-board ship. According to White's journal, Fernandez's deputy "called to the sailors in the pinesse, charging them not to bring any of the planters back againe, but leave them on the island". Faced with what amounted to a mutiny by his navigator, White appears to have backed down and acquiesced in this sudden change of plan. Despite the governor's protests, Fernandez held that "summer was farre spent, wherefore hee would land all the planters in no other place.".
This second colony at Roanoke set about repairing the structures left behind in 1585. They also searched for the fifteen men left behind by the previous expedition, but found only bones. From an early stage there were tensions with the local Algonkin
Indians, though initially things went well. White quickly made contact with friendly natives led by Chief
Manteo
, who explained to him that the lost fifteen had been killed by hostile Secotan
, Aquascogoc
and Dasamongueponke
warriors, choosing a time and place of attack "of great advantage to the savages".
On August 8, 1587 White led a dawn attack on the Dasamongueponkes that went disastrously wrong. White and his soldiers entered the Dasamongueponke village in the morning "so early that it was yet dark", but mistakenly attacked a group of hitherto friendly Indians, killing one and wounding many. "We were deceaved", wrote White in his journal, "for the savages were our friendes". Henceforth relations with the local tribes would steadily deteriorate.
Misfortune struck White's return to England from the beginning. The anchor of the flyboat
on which White was quartered could not be raised, and many crew members were severely injured during the attempt. Worse, their journey home was delayed by "scarce and variable winds" followed by "a storme at the north-east", and many sailors starved or died of scurvy. On October 16, 1587 the desperate crew at last landed in Smewicke
, in the West of Ireland
, and White was finally able to make his way back to Southampton
.
Further bad news awaited White on his return to England. Just two weeks previously Queen Elizabeth I had issued a general "stay of shipping", preventing any ships from leaving English shores. The reason was the "invincible fleetes made by the King of Spain, joyned with the power of the Pope, for the invading of England" - the Spanish Armada
. White's patron Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to provide ships to rescue the colony but he was over-ruled by the Queen.
In early 1588 White was able to scrape together a pair of small pinnaces, the Brave and The Roe, which were unsuitable for military service and so could be spared for the expedition to Roanoke. Unluckily for White they were barely suited for the Atlantic crossing and the governor endured further bad luck as the ships were intercepted by French pirates who "playd extreemely upon us with their shot", hitting White (to his great embarrassment) "in the side of the buttoke". White and his crew escaped to England with their lives but "they robbed us of all our victuals, powder, weapons and provision", and the journey to Virginia had to be abandoned. By this stage White appears to have formed the view that he was born under "an unlucky star".
was further imperilled by poor weather. The landing was hazardous and was beset by bad conditions and adverse currents. During the landing on Roanoke, of the mariners who accompanied White, "seven of the chiefest were drowned".
Governor White finally reached Roanoke Island on August 18, 1590, his granddaughter's third birthday, but he found his colony had been long deserted. The buildings had collapsed and "the houses [were] taken downe". The few clues about the colonists whereabouts included the letters "CRO" carved into a tree, and the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post of the fort. Croatoan was the name of a nearby island (likely modern-day Hatteras Island
) and a local tribe of Native Americans. Roanoke Island was not originally the planned location for the colony and the idea of moving elsewhere had been discussed. Before the Governor's departure, he and the colonists had agreed that a message would be carved into a tree if they had moved and would include an image of a Maltese Cross
if the decision was made by force. White found no such cross and was hopeful that his family were still alive.
True to their word, the colonists had looked after White's belongings, which had been carefully buried and hidden. However, local Indians had evidently looted the hiding place, and White found "about the place many of my things spoyled and broken, and my books torne from the covers, the frames of some of my pictures and mappes rotten and spoyled with rayne, and my armour almost eaten through with rust"
Due to weather which "grew to be fouler and fouler", White had to abandon the search of adjacent islands for the colonists. The ship's captain had already lost 3 anchors and could not afford the loss of another. White returned to Plymouth
on October 24, 1590.
The loss of the colony was a personal tragedy for White, from which he never fully recovered. He would never return to the New World, and In a letter to Richard Hakluyt
he wrote that he must hand over the fate of the colonists and his family "to the merciful help of the Almighty, whom I most humbly beseech to helpe and comfort them".
), Ireland
. He appears to have been in Ireland living on the estates of Sir Walter Raleigh, making maps of land for Raleigh's tenants, and reflecting upon the "evils and unfortunate events" which had ruined his hopes in the New World, though never giving up hope that his daughter and granddaughter were still alive.
The last surviving document related to White is a letter he wrote from Ireland in 1593 to the publisher of the prints
of his Roanoke drawings. However, a record from May 1606 that a Bridget White was appointed estate administrator for her brother "John White" may refer to him.
A Bridgett White was also the second wife of a Robert Wight (1578–1617) of Hareby, Lincolnshire, England whom he married on November 25, 1613 at Alford
. As this Robert was also the son of an obscure John Wight (b. abt. 1552) and the father of an Elizabeth Wighte (1606–1671) who is sometimes thought to have been the ex-wife of Nathaniel Eaton
(1610–1674), the first schoolmaster of Harvard College
, Massachusetts
; there is a possibility that Bridget White, the sister of John White the Governor of Roanoke Colony, and Bridgett White, the second wife of the same above-mentioned Robert Wight, are directly related to each other.
There is also a record of an Elizabeth Aguirre of Petersfield
, Hampshire
(died 1665), who was the second wife of Josias White (1573–1622) of Hornchurch
, Essex
, brother of John White the 'Patriarch of Dorchester', and son of a John White of Stanton St John, Oxfordshire
(1540 – before September 30, 1618), who afterwards married a Francis Drake (1573–1634) of Walton-on-Thames
, Surrey
– a first cousin once removed of Sir Francis Drake
(1540–1596) the famous explorer. This Josias White was the grandson of another John White (died 1580) possibly connected to Dr Thomas White (1514–1588), Warden of New College, Oxford
. As the name Barlow is associated with the initial discovery and mapping of the Virginia coast by Capt Arthur Barlowe
(1550–1620) in 1584, it is conceivable that Ann Barlow is directly connected to the first Governor of Roanoke, Virginia.
of the British Museum
.
Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville was an English sailor, sea captain and explorer. He took part in the early English attempts to settle the New World, and also participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada...
to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in 1585, acting as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
society of the Eastern seaboard; the surviving original paintings are now stored in the print room
Print room
A print room is either a room or industrial building where printing takes place, or a room in an art gallery or museum, where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours and photographs, are held and viewed. The latter meaning is the subject of this...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Later, in 1587, White became governor of Sir Walter Raleigh's failed attempt at a permanent settlement on Roanoke island, known to history as the "Lost Colony". This unsuccessful effort represented the earliest attempt at a permanent English colony
English colonial empire
The English colonial empire consisted of a variety of overseas territories colonized, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries....
in the New World
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...
, and White's granddaughter 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...
was the first English child born in the New World. After the failure of the Lost Colony, White retired to Raleigh's estates in Ireland, reflecting upon the "evils and unfortunate events" which had ruined his hopes in America, though never giving up hope that his daughter and granddaughter were still alive.
Early life
John White's exact date of birth is unknown but it seems likely he was born some time between 1540 and 1550. There is a record dated February 22, 1539 of a christening in the Church of St AugustineSt Augustine Papey
St Augustine Papey was a mediaeval church in the City of London situated in what is now Bury Street. First mentioned as " Sci augustini pappey ", it originally belonged to the Priory of Holy Trinity. By 1430 the emoluments had become so small that it was united with All Hallows-on-the-Wall and in...
, London of a "John White" on that same day; but there is no proof this is the same person. White is known to have attended church in the parish of St. Martin Ludgate in London. In 1566 he married Tomasyn Cooper; with whom he had a son, Tom, who died young, and a daughter Eleanor. Little is known of White's training as an artist but it is possible that he apprenticed as an illustrator under a London master.
Early efforts at colonization
In the late Sixteenth Century efforts to establish an English colony in the New World began to gain momentum, and White soon became an enthusiastic supporter. In 1585 White accompanied the expedition led by Sir Ralph LaneRalph Lane
Sir Ralph Lane was an English explorer of the Elizabethan era. He was part of the unsuccessful attempt in 1585 to colonize Roanoke Island, North Carolina. He also served the Crown in Ireland and was knighted by the Queen in 1593....
to attempt to found the first English colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. White was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh as Sir Richard Grenville
Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville was an English sailor, sea captain and explorer. He took part in the early English attempts to settle the New World, and also participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada...
's artist-illustrator on his first voyage to the New World
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...
; he served as mapmaker and artist to the expedition, which encountered considerable difficulties and returned to England in 1586 .
Gentleman artist
In 1585 White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World and their surroundings. During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape and native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
society of the Eastern seaboard, and predate the first body of "discovery voyage art" created in the late 18th century by the artists who sailed with Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
. They represent the sole surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America, encountered by England's first settlers.
White's enthusiasm for watercolor was unusual - most contemporary painters preferred to use oil-based paints. White's watercolors would soon become a sensation in Europe and it was not long before the paintings were engraved
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
by the Flemish master engraver Theodore de Bry, and through the medium of print, became widely known and distributed; published in 1590 under the title "America".
Governor of the Roanoke Colony
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...
, tasked White with the job of organizing a new colony in the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
area, one which would be self-sustaining and which would include women and children. During 1586 White was able to persuade 113 prospective colonists to join Raleigh's expedition, including his daughter Eleanor
Eleanor Dare
Eleanor White Dare of Westminster, London, England was a member of the Roanoke Colony and the daughter of John White, the colony's governor. While little is known about her life, more is known about her than most of the sixteen other women who left England in 1587 as part of the Roanoke...
and his son-in-law Ananias Dare, recently married at St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 on Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire during the London Blitz in 1940. Due to its location on...
in Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
. His efforts did not go unrewarded; on January 7, 1587 Raleigh named “John White of London Gentleman, to be the chief Governor” of the new colony, acting under the authority of the Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
. White, with thirteen others, were incorporated under the name of “The Governor and Assistants of the Cities of Raleigh of Virginia”.
Arrival at Roanoke
In May 1587 White's colonists sailed for Virginia in The Lion. They were guided by the Portuguese navigator Simon FernandezSimon Fernandez
Simon Fernandez was a 16th century Portuguese navigator and sometime pirate who piloted the 1585 and 1587 English expeditions to found colonies on Roanoake island, part of modern-day North Carolina but then known as Virginia...
, the same pilot who had led the 1585 expedition and who was given by his fellow sailors the unhappy nickname of "the swine". The settlers' chosen destination was not Roanoke but the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
but, on reaching Roanoake in late July, and allowing the colonists to disembark, Fernandez refused to let White's men re-board ship. According to White's journal, Fernandez's deputy "called to the sailors in the pinesse, charging them not to bring any of the planters back againe, but leave them on the island". Faced with what amounted to a mutiny by his navigator, White appears to have backed down and acquiesced in this sudden change of plan. Despite the governor's protests, Fernandez held that "summer was farre spent, wherefore hee would land all the planters in no other place.".
This second colony at Roanoke set about repairing the structures left behind in 1585. They also searched for the fifteen men left behind by the previous expedition, but found only bones. From an early stage there were tensions with the local Algonkin
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
Indians, though initially things went well. White quickly made contact with friendly natives led by Chief
Manteo
Manteo (Croatan)
Manteo was a Native American Croatan Indian, the chief of a local tribe that befriended the English explorers that landed at Roanoke Island in 1584. In 1585 the English returned to Roanoke, arriving too late in the year to plant crops and harvest food, and Manteo helped the colonists to make it...
, who explained to him that the lost fifteen had been killed by hostile Secotan
Secotan
The Secotans were one of eight groups of Native Americans dominant in the Carolina sound region, between 1584 and 1590, with which English colonizers had varying degrees of contact...
, Aquascogoc
Aquascogoc
The Aquascogoc is the name given to a Native American tribe and also the name of a village encountered by the English during their late 16th century attempts to settle and establish permanent colonies in what is now North Carolina, known at the time as Virginia...
and Dasamongueponke
Dasamongueponke
The Dasamongueponke, or Dasamonguepeuk, is the name given to a Native American tribe and also the name of a village encountered by the English during their late 16th century attempts to settle and establish permanent colonies in what is now North Carolina, known at the time as Virginia...
warriors, choosing a time and place of attack "of great advantage to the savages".
On August 8, 1587 White led a dawn attack on the Dasamongueponkes that went disastrously wrong. White and his soldiers entered the Dasamongueponke village in the morning "so early that it was yet dark", but mistakenly attacked a group of hitherto friendly Indians, killing one and wounding many. "We were deceaved", wrote White in his journal, "for the savages were our friendes". Henceforth relations with the local tribes would steadily deteriorate.
Virginia Dare
On August 18, 1587 there was happier news - White became a grandfather. "Elenora, daughter to the governour and wife to Ananias Dare, one of the assistants, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke". The child was healthy and "was christened there the Sunday following, and because this childe was the first Christian borne in Virginia, she was named Virginia".White returns to England
However, the colonists’ food supplies soon began to grow short, and in late 1587 the settlers pressed White to return to England "for the better and sooner obtaining of supplies, and other necessaries". Because the colony had been deposited in Roanoke rather than The Chesapeake, supply ships from England ignorant of Fernandez's change of plan would most likely not land in Roanoke at all, and the settlement might not survive the coming winter. White was reluctant to abandon his colony, anxious that his enemies in England "would not spare to slander [him] falsely" should he leave, and worried that his "stuffe and goods might be spoiled and most of it pilfered away". Eventually the colonists agreed to stand surety for White's belongings and he was prevailed upon to sail, "much against his will", in order to seek help.Misfortune struck White's return to England from the beginning. The anchor of the flyboat
Flyboat
The flyboat was a European light vessel of between 70 to 200 tons, used in the late 16th and early 17th century; the name was subsequently applied to a number of disparate vessels.The name "flyboat" is derived from Dutch vlieboot, a boat with a shallow enough draught to be...
on which White was quartered could not be raised, and many crew members were severely injured during the attempt. Worse, their journey home was delayed by "scarce and variable winds" followed by "a storme at the north-east", and many sailors starved or died of scurvy. On October 16, 1587 the desperate crew at last landed in Smewicke
Ard na Caithne
Ard na Caithne , meaning height of the arbutus or strawberry tree, known as Smerwick in English, in the heart of the Kerry Gaeltacht is one of the principal bays of Corca Dhuibhne. It is nestled at the foot of An Triúr Deirfiúr and Cnoc Bhréanainn, which at is the highest mountain in the Brandon...
, in the West of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and White was finally able to make his way back to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
.
The Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
. White's patron Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to provide ships to rescue the colony but he was over-ruled by the Queen.
The Brave and The Roe
Return to the "Lost Colony"
Finally, in March 1590, with the immediate threat of a Spanish invasion by now abated, Raleigh was able to equip White's rescue expedition. Two ships, the Hopewell and the Moonlight set sail for Roanoke. The return journey was prolonged by extensive privateering and a number of sea battles, and White's eventual landing at the Outer BanksOuter Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
was further imperilled by poor weather. The landing was hazardous and was beset by bad conditions and adverse currents. During the landing on Roanoke, of the mariners who accompanied White, "seven of the chiefest were drowned".
Governor White finally reached Roanoke Island on August 18, 1590, his granddaughter's third birthday, but he found his colony had been long deserted. The buildings had collapsed and "the houses [were] taken downe". The few clues about the colonists whereabouts included the letters "CRO" carved into a tree, and the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post of the fort. Croatoan was the name of a nearby island (likely modern-day Hatteras Island
Hatteras Island
Hatteras Island is a barrier island located off the North Carolina coast. Dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound, it runs parallel to the coast, forming a bend at Cape Hatteras. It is part of North Carolina's Outer Banks and includes the towns of Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton,...
) and a local tribe of Native Americans. Roanoke Island was not originally the planned location for the colony and the idea of moving elsewhere had been discussed. Before the Governor's departure, he and the colonists had agreed that a message would be carved into a tree if they had moved and would include an image of a Maltese Cross
Maltese cross
The Maltese cross, also known as the Amalfi cross, is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of Malta and through them came to be identified with the Mediterranean island of Malta and is one of the National symbols of Malta...
if the decision was made by force. White found no such cross and was hopeful that his family were still alive.
True to their word, the colonists had looked after White's belongings, which had been carefully buried and hidden. However, local Indians had evidently looted the hiding place, and White found "about the place many of my things spoyled and broken, and my books torne from the covers, the frames of some of my pictures and mappes rotten and spoyled with rayne, and my armour almost eaten through with rust"
Due to weather which "grew to be fouler and fouler", White had to abandon the search of adjacent islands for the colonists. The ship's captain had already lost 3 anchors and could not afford the loss of another. White returned to Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
on October 24, 1590.
The loss of the colony was a personal tragedy for White, from which he never fully recovered. He would never return to the New World, and In a letter to Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
he wrote that he must hand over the fate of the colonists and his family "to the merciful help of the Almighty, whom I most humbly beseech to helpe and comfort them".
Later life
Little is known of White's life after the failure of the Roanoke Colony. He lived in Plymouth, and also owned a house at Newtown, Kylmore (Kilmore, County CorkCounty Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
), Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He appears to have been in Ireland living on the estates of Sir Walter Raleigh, making maps of land for Raleigh's tenants, and reflecting upon the "evils and unfortunate events" which had ruined his hopes in the New World, though never giving up hope that his daughter and granddaughter were still alive.
The last surviving document related to White is a letter he wrote from Ireland in 1593 to the publisher of the prints
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
of his Roanoke drawings. However, a record from May 1606 that a Bridget White was appointed estate administrator for her brother "John White" may refer to him.
Possible descendants
Alford, Lincolnshire
- Notable residents :* Captain John Smith who lived in nearby Willoughby* Anne Hutchinson, pioneer settler and religious reformer in the United States* Thomas Paine, who was an excise officer in the town....
. As this Robert was also the son of an obscure John Wight (b. abt. 1552) and the father of an Elizabeth Wighte (1606–1671) who is sometimes thought to have been the ex-wife of Nathaniel Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton was the first schoolmaster of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later became a clergyman.- Biography :...
(1610–1674), the first schoolmaster of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
; there is a possibility that Bridget White, the sister of John White the Governor of Roanoke Colony, and Bridgett White, the second wife of the same above-mentioned Robert Wight, are directly related to each other.
There is also a record of an Elizabeth Aguirre of Petersfield
Petersfield, Hampshire
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth, on the A3 road. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth and London. The town is situated on the...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
(died 1665), who was the second wife of Josias White (1573–1622) of Hornchurch
Hornchurch
Hornchurch is a large suburban town in England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. Hornchurch is in North-East London .It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan. It comprises a number of shopping...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, brother of John White the 'Patriarch of Dorchester', and son of a John White of Stanton St John, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
(1540 – before September 30, 1618), who afterwards married a Francis Drake (1573–1634) of Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
– a first cousin once removed of Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
(1540–1596) the famous explorer. This Josias White was the grandson of another John White (died 1580) possibly connected to Dr Thomas White (1514–1588), Warden of New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
. As the name Barlow is associated with the initial discovery and mapping of the Virginia coast by Capt Arthur Barlowe
Arthur Barlowe
Arthur Barlowe was one of two British captains who, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, left England in 1584 to find land in North America to claim for Queen Elizabeth I of England. His survives in a letter written to Raleigh as a report on their journey...
(1550–1620) in 1584, it is conceivable that Ann Barlow is directly connected to the first Governor of Roanoke, Virginia.
Legacy
White is chiefly remembered today for his paintings, which represent a unique record of 16th century Algonkin society. All of White's surviving original paintings are now in the print roomPrint room
A print room is either a room or industrial building where printing takes place, or a room in an art gallery or museum, where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours and photographs, are held and viewed. The latter meaning is the subject of this...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Further reading
- Miller, Lee, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony Retrieved April 2011
- Milton, Giles, Big Chief Elizabeth - How England's Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World, Hodder & Stoughton, London (2000)
- Morgan, Dewi, Phoenix of Fleet St - 2,000 years of St Bride's, Charles Knight & Co., London (1973), ISBN 0853141967
- Tucker, Abigail, "Sketching the Earliest Views of the New World", SmithsonianSmithsonian (magazine)Smithsonian is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.-History:...
magazine, December 2008
External links
- NCpedia biography of John White Retrieved March 2011
- British Museum article on John White and his paintings Retrieved March 2011
- The Church of Stanton St John, Suffolk This link includes a map.
- John white drawings and Theodore DeBry engravings from Virtual Jamestown Retrieved March 2011
- Account of the Roanoke settlements Retrieved April 2011