37°06′23″N 76°34′9″W / 37.10639°N 76.56917°W Stanley Hundred is the name given by Sir George Yeardley around 1626 to the plantation in what would later be part of Warwick River Shire. The name was also used to refer to the corresponding colonial parish in the same area. [2]
The earliest known English settlement in the area came in 1617 or 1618 when indentured servants arrived on 1000 acres of land on Mulberry Island. Despite the plantation’s vastness, its population was small enough to have no representative at the House of Burgesses’ first session in 1619. The English Crown issued the first patent for land on Mulberry Island in 1619. [3]
It is possible that Sir George Yeardley held the 1,000 acre parcel on the south end of Mulberry Island, which would be known as Stanley Hundred as early as 1621, based on land patents. [4][5] However, the early growth of the Mulberry Island settlement ended with the 1622 Indian uprising. “The numbers that were slaine in those severall Plantations” included six persons at Mulberry Island: Master Thomas Peirce, his wife, his child, John Hopkins, John Samon, and a “French boy” [6] The remaining men, women, and children who survived the attack abandoned Mulberry Island at that time. By 1625 however, settlers returned to Mulberry Island armed with 42 swords, 27 guns, and 22 pieces of armor. The 1624/5 Muster noted 30 people among 13 households.[7]