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

Nathaniel’s Later Years: 1678-1690
Nathaniel’s Increased Status – His Place in The Economy of 17 th Century Virginia
Although first referred to as “Mr.” in 1669 at his appointment as a representative, it’s not until the late
1670s that Nathaniel is more frequently referred to in Accomack County court records by that title. In the
seventeenth century, “Mister” did not have the generalized use it has today, but was more specifically
employed to designate a higher status. 247 In a basic way it was used to denote someone who was influential
and respected in the community. Other signs of Nathaniel’s heightened status appear in the records around
this time. After 1674, he ceases to serve on any juries. After 1677, he begins to appear in court more
frequently in cases involving debt, and in the great majority of these cases as the creditor seeking payment.
To take an example touched on earlier, in 1679 Nathaniel’s employee, servant, or lessee Thomas Williams
died owing him nearly 9,000 lbs tobacco. 248 To give an idea of how much this was worth, when Nathaniel
and Alice sold their land at Occahannock they received 8,000 lbs tobacco plus 4 cows and calves; 249 since a
day’s labor was worth about 25 lbs tobacco, 250 9,000 lbs tobacco signified about a year’s worth of labor;
around the year 1679, 9,000 lbs tobacco would have been enough to pay for passage to England three or
four times, or to purchase 3 to 5 servants. 251 Another unusually large debt for which Nathaniel sought
payment was from James Ewell, for 5000 lbs tobacco. 252 Unlike Thomas Williams, James Ewell was alive
when Nathaniel claimed the debt and the suit dragged out for years. Most of the debts for which Nathaniel
sought payment were not on this scale, but generally in the range of 100 to 2500 lbs tobacco.
The scope of Nathaniel’s economic activities had clearly widened in a major way by the late 1670s. In 1679
he purchased a 1200 acre tract in Sussex County in Delaware, at that time part of the territory of
Pennsylvania, about 112 miles to the north of his home plantation on Bradford’s Neck. 253 It has already
been noted that Nathaniel had consistently one of the largest households in Accomack County, in terms of
the number of his taxable dependants. It will soon be brought out below that Nathaniel was among an elite
group of planters who owned plantations in excess of 2000 acres. Land and number of dependants are solid
indicators of wealth in 17 th century Virginia, where the economy revolved around tobacco.
Tobacco was Virginia’s staple crop and the primary medium of exchange for almost all financial
transactions of any kind. If Virginia’s original purpose was to make money for its founders, tobacco was
Virginia’s saving grace, for tobacco was the first product of Virginia to turn a profit. And it was the spread
of tobacco cultivation after its introduction in 1614 that ultimately came to define early Virginia society.
Page 44 of 74 Copyright 2008 Adam M. Bradford