I. Native Women
II. First Women
III. More Women
IV. Cash Crop
V. Women's Lives
VI. Indentured Servant
VII. Wives
VIII. Living Condition
IX. Family Life
X. Women's Work
XI. Fate of Jamestown
XII. Sources
II. The First Women of Jamestown
For over a year after the founding of Jamestown, no English women lived in the colony. Then in October of 1608, two women arrived with the “Second Supply” of men and provisions. Thomas Forrest, listed as a gentleman in the supply lists, brought his wife, Anne Forrest, and her maid, Anne Buras. Buras was about fourteen years old when she arrived. She married the carpenter John Layton within a year, an event that Captain John Smith described as the first wedding held in Virginia. Anne Layton later gave birth to a daughter, named Virginia. While the Laytons are not mentioned again in later records, their arrival represents the beginning of families in Jamestown.
Nineteenth century artist’s conception of the landing at Jamestown in 1607
click on image for larger view
Credit: New York Public Library Digital Collections
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