University of Virginia Library

RECORDS PROVIDED FOR BY THE COMPANY

The company was thus a body of adventurers, who had gained the freedom
of the company by payment of money, by rendering a service, or by settlement
of land in Virginia. It was presided over by a treasurer chosen by itself at will,
and conducted all of its business through its regularly elected officers or committees,
or by special committees. According to the "Orders and Constitutions" it kept

a complete record of its actions in the courts and compelled its officers and
committees to do the same. Provision was thus made for six books which were
to contain the following records:

(1)

• Copies of the letters patents, and also of all letters, orders, and directions
  from the King and his council, as well as the replies of the company.

(2)

• The laws and standing orders passed in quarter courts for the company
  and for the colony.

(3)

• A register of all patents, charters, and indentures of validity granted by
  the company, of all instructions issued by the council, and of all public letters
  sent to or received from Virginia.

(4)

• The acts of the general courts.

(5)

• The acts of the committees; invoices of provisions sent to Virginia by
  the company; the certificates of the receipts to be returned from Virginia; invoices
  of goods sent from Virginia with the husband's certificate of receipt or defect.

(6)

• The names of adventurers, by payment of money or by rendering service,
  to whom shares of land had been given, together with the number of shares
  belonging to each person; the lawful transfers of shares from one to another;
  the names of His Majesty's council for Virginia.

(6a)

• The names of all planters in Virginia on the public and on the private
  plantations separately, based on the certificates from the governor and council in
  Virginia and from the heads of each plantation.[169]

All of these books were in the custody of the Secretary, and were to be
kept in the company's chest, together with the originals of the letters patents
and all other papers. In his custody also were the husband's books of accounts
of every voyage to Virginia, all accounts approved by the auditors, the canceled
and uncanceled charter parties, and all bonds issued to the company.

The proof of the care with which the company kept its records is found in
the contemporary copy of the court book, and in a few scattering originals and
copies of originals which are preserved among the Ferrar and Manchester papers
and in the British Museum. That all of the books required by the orders and
constitutions were really kept can not be proved, since not a page nor a copy of
a page of many of them is known to be extant; but the copy of the court book
serves as an evidence that the laws were as carefully obeyed in this respect as
in others. The references in the minutes to many of these records, the inser-
tion of many of them in the copy of the court book, and the continual provision
for supplementary records all go to show that the "Orders and Constitutions"
furnish a reliable outline of the records kept by the company.

The books which the courts added to the list of records from time to time
reveal an increasing effort to conduct the business in an orderly manner. Imme-
diately upon assuming his duties as treasurer, Sir Edwin Sandys instituted an
investigation of the accounts of Sir Thomas Smythe. In this connection four
books and four rolls were prepared containing the subscriptions, which had been
made for carrying on the business, and a list of the adventurers with the sums
invested during the previous years. The treasurer made a similar request of
the deputy, John Ferrar, on September 18, 1620, in which he asked that the
secretary and Mr. Carter should make three catalogues of the adventurers
indebted to the company in order that they might be given to a solicitor for
collection. He throws light upon the customary carelessness by urging that the
lists should be made "from the company's books and not from memory," lest
many a £12 10s should be lost.[170]

On May 17, 1620, three books of the deputy were audited. The first contained
an account of the money disbursed for provisions,[171] the second, a catalogue of the
provisions sent to the colony, and the third, a list of the names of the persons
dispatched to the plantation with the trade of each. Because of the erection of
private plantations in later years it was necessary that these records should be
supplemented. Hence an order of court provided that the names of all persons
transported to Virginia should be reported to the company and that a bookkeeper
should be appointed to be at the house of the court to register the names before
the departure of every ship. This record was to consist of the name, age, country,
profession, and kindred of each individual and was to state at whose charge the
transportation was effected. Contrary to custom each person was required to pay
a fee for registration. A duplicate of the register was to be sent to the Governor
of Virginia, but the names of those departing were not to be made public until
after the ship had sailed.[172]

Provision was made in 1620 for keeping duplicates of all patents issued.
A part of this series is now deposited in the British Museum, from which the
various kinds of patents and the terms for each may be discovered.[173] A registra-
tion of all shares passed from one member of the company to another was ordered
on November 19, 1621, and such a book was to be used as evidence of the right
to be admitted to courts. Other records added from time to time were a book
containing the rates of commodities,[174] a register of all petitions to the court,

with the action thereupon,[175] and a record of all covenants between adventurers
and indentured servants, a copy of which was to be sent to the governor of
Virginia.[176] The rolls signed by adventurers must have been numerous. Nine are
mentioned in the court book on July 24, 1621, in addition to others cited at
various times.[177]

With the increase in trade and the establishment of the company magazines
new measures were adopted for controlling the business. These often consisted
of separate documents rather than books. A statement was thus required of the
deputy certifying that the freight had been paid before any goods should be
delivered, and invoices were also demanded of the cape merchant.[178] Copies of
such certificates, as also of the accounts of the treasurer of the various joint
stock investments for the glass works and for the fur trade, were kept in the
company's chest.[179]