1. Nathaniel Bradford of Accomack County, Virginia - Lower ...

From Colonel Scarburgh’s first complaint, it is apparent that, regardless of activities carried out for their
own profit, the local currier was obliged by law to “curry all hides brought to him” during certain periods
of the year. One guesses that Nathaniel looked to the needs of his own operation before tending to other
men’s hides, and that this may be a cause for Scarburgh’s first petition. By 1669, Nathaniel appears to have
been no longer employed by Colonel Scarburgh as a currier, since in January of that year Scarburgh lodged
a complaint against a Martin Moore, currier, for failing to supply him with curried hides as stipulated by an
earlier agreement between them. 69 In 1668, Scarburgh is known to have been Moore’s master as well as the
master of the tanner John Parker, probably the same John Parker who was sent to inspect Nathaniel’s
leather after the second of Scarburgh’s complaints. Thus it appears that by 1669 Scarburgh had a currier
servant on his plantation, and no longer had to rely on Nathaniel’s services. Perhaps by this time Nathaniel
himself was already beginning to set himself up as a shoe manufacturer, as we know must have occurred at
some point due to the existence of a shoemaker’s shop on his plantation. It’s tempting to infer from the
complaints of Scarburgh that Nathaniel was engaged in shoe manufacture even at this early date, and that,
being a competitor of Scarburgh’s, Nathaniel might have been less than generous when it came to both the
number and the quality of hides he supplied to others.
* * * * *
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh has been mentioned several times already in the course of this biography.
Nathaniel Bradford is sometimes associated with him in what would seem to be something of a client
relationship: Scarburgh assigned Nathaniel the patent for a portion of his plantation at Bradford’s Neck and
is described as Nathaniel’s “Imployer” in his complaint against Nathaniel for his delinquency in currying.
Furthermore, Nathaniel’s service as constable came during the same year Scarburgh was sheriff, and it is
likely that Scarburgh had the pick of those who served under him, since he also served on the county
commission which chose the constables. All the same, such frequent association with Scarburgh in
Nathaniel’s early years might not be quite as notable as it appears. Scarburgh was ubiquitous on the eastern
shore and especially in Accomack County. By all accounts, he was a powerful figure and easily the
county’s most famous and controversial early resident. His family was also extremely well connected, his
brother Henry being the court physician to King Charles II. Given that both Scarburgh and Stephen
Charlton have appeared several times already in Nathaniel’s life and that Scarburgh will appear again
several other times in this biography - this seems like a good opportunity to give a brief sketch of the some
of the history of the time, both the history of the wider English world and also the history of Virginia and
particularly the eastern shore, in which both Charlton and Scarburgh were involved as prime movers. The
digression is warranted, since the events to be described constitute the historical context of Nathaniel’s
early life.
* * * * *
Historical Backdrop
The English Civil Wars
Nathaniel’s early life, whether spent on the eastern shore or elsewhere, was coterminous with momentous
events happening in England, events which did not fail to have an effect on Virginia, far away though the
colony may have been from the scene of the action. Wherever it was spent, Nathaniel’s youth should be
imagined as occurring against the backdrop of the English Civil Wars and the events that surrounded them.
The English Civil Wars of the 1640s began as a struggle between Parliament and King Charles I over
control of the kingdom’s finances. Charles had been soundly beaten by Scotland during his invasion of that
country in 1640, and as a result the victorious Scots took military control of a large portion of north
England and required Charles to pay for the support of the Scottish troops there. In need of money, Charles
found himself forced to summon Parliament to request funds. As soon as Parliament sat in 1640 it
immediately made attempts to assert its authority, impeaching and executing the King’s chief advisor and
demanding that Parliament meet on a regular basis rather than at the King’s whim. The King did his best to
resist these demands and matters came to a head in late 1641, when Parliament passed the Grand
Remonstrance, a list of all their grievances against the King, in which they also demanded the power to
Page 16 of 74 Copyright 2008 Adam M. Bradford