The earliest settlements in
what is now York County, Virginia, were made along the York and Poquoson Rivers
sometime around 1625-1632. The generally accepted date is 1630-1632, but there
is some evidence that settlers penetrated the forest of the narrow peninsula and
found the high banks of the York River at an earlier date. They very rapidly
established a settlement not only on the York River, then known as the Pamunkey,
but on the Back and Poquoson Rivers. In those early days the Back River was known
as the Poquoson River and what is now the Poquoson River was known as the New
Poquoson River. By 1634 there were sufficient residents in the area for it to be
included among the eight original shires under the name of Charles River. It was
so called until 1643 when the name was changed to York.
The original County was much
larger than the present County. Among the counties which have come partly or wholly
from York are Gloucester, 1651; Lancaster, 1651; New Kent, 1654; King William,
1702; Hanover, 1721; and Louisa 1742.
The early settlers of York
County were, for the most part, of good English stock. Many of them were connected
with the Colonial government at Williamsburg. They were in constant contact with
new arrivals from England, both permanent settlers and government officials, and
were able to maintain a high cultural standard. The late Dr. Lyon G. Tyler says
of them: "It is perfectly evident from the environment" that most of these
settlers belonged to a "respectable families in England". "They were as a rule
men of good education, and it is certain that no better sot of immigrants could
have come to a new country for settlement".
These new settlers faced grave
problems, not the least of which were the Chiskiack Indians, who roamed the county,
and the mosquitoes. They were able to conquer the Indians, but to this day
descendants still wage incessant war against the mosquitoes. There were also
wolves, for which rewards were paid, and beavers in large numbers.
The early settlements in the
County were known as Chiskiack, now Yorktown; York, about three miles below
Chiskiack; and Poquoson, which still retains its ancient name. Strangely enough,
the Court House has been at one time or another in each of these settlements.
The Court seems originally to have been held at York, then in Poquoson for a
number of years following 1680. In 1698, the Court was moved to Yorktown,
where it has ever since remained."
Poquoson was the home of the
major portions of the Holloway family, though some lived in other parts of the
county. The early settlers in this section retained its descriptive Indian name,
meaning "marsh" or "lowland". The area immediately across the Back River in
Elizabeth City County was also known as Poquoson, usually called Old Poquoson
to distinguish it from Poquoson, York County frequently called New Poquoson.
Among the earliest settlers in Poquoson, York County were the families Holloway,
Freeman, Calthorpe, Owen, Parsons, Russell, Wades, Hinde, Bennett, Betty, Stoakes,
Wray, Symens, Privett, Lucas, Curtis, Hayney, Powell, Brice, Thresher, Chisman,
Mitchell, Yonge, Watkins, Presson, Hansford, Matthews, Van Doverage (the Forson
family ancestor), Hayward (Howard), and many others of the representative families
of early Virginia history. York County, and Poquoson in particular, because it was
the most popular and prosperous section of the county, was a veritable sieve
through which passed thousands of immigrants to the new world. Frequently these
families would linger a generation, sometimes two or more, in York before moving on.
Intermarriages with the established families were frequent, and it is probable
that the present inhabitants of Poquoson represent as great, if not a greater,
cross-section of early Virginia descent than any other people of the state.
It is not possible to research
the history of an early county without realizing the important place of the early
Parish and its ministers in the life of the county. York was early divided into
four parishes: (1) Chiskiack (afterwards York) Parish, from Back or Chisman's
Creek to Yorktown Creek; (2) Hampton Parish, from Yorktown Creek to Queen's Creek;
(3) Marston Parish, which was combined with Middletown Parish to form Bruton
Parish in 1674; and, (4) Poquoson Parish, sometimes New Poquoson, much the
largest of the parishes, extending from Back River to Back (Chisman's) Creek.
York Records for 1693 quote an order of the House of Burgesses, dated Dec. 11,
1692, which ordered the changing of the name of the parish to Charles Parish.
It also changed the name of the New Poquoson River to Charles River. Neither
name seems to have ever been largely used locally, though the Parish name was
thereafter Charles Parish in all official records.
York and Hampton Parishes
were ordered combined by the Council, Feb. 5, 1706, "upon reading the petition
of the Parishes of York and Hampton setting forth that the said parishes (were)
so small and poor as not to be able to maintain a minister". Thereafter it was
known as York-Hampton Parish.
The late Dr. Tyler often
stated that York County was the most cultured spot in America in the Seventeenth
and early Eighteenth Centuries. There is abundant evidence that this was true.
Robert Leightenhouse had a private school in York Parish before 1697, when Sir
Francis Nicholson gave 1 ½ acres in Yorktown for a public school. This school
had been discontinued, however, before 1724 when Rev. Francis Fontaine reported
no public schools in York Parish. The Whaley School was established in Bruton
Parish in 1706.
It was Poquoson (Charles)
Parish where probably the most widespread public education in early America was
made possible for the whole population. Not only did this Parish share equally
with Elizabeth City County in the educational devises of the will of Benjamin
Sims, but it also had Jane Culley's School which seems to have been a semi-public
school under the direction of the Parish, as well as several other private schools.
It is quite fitting that the new consolidated York County High School has been
placed within the bounds of this old Parish where early America education was
pioneered.