SIR GEORGE YEARDLEY.
Captain George Yeardley, as President of the Council, was left by
Dale as his Deputy in the government of Virginia, upon the departure
of the latter for England in April, 1616. Yeardley was superseded by
Captain Samuel Argall, May 15, 1617, and returned to England. Upon
the intelligence of the death of Lord De La Warr, Yeardley, who was
knighted on the occasion, was appointed to succeed him. He arrived in
the Colony April 19, 1619, and assumed the government. On July 30th
following the first representative legislative assembly ever held in
America was convened at Jamestown. Yeardley was superseded November
18, 1621, by Sir Francis Wyatt, but resumed the government May
17, 1626. He died in November following. During his administration
many important improvements were made, and the power, population
and prosperity of the Colony much enhanced.
He is reported in January, 1622, as having built a windmill, the first
erected in America. He left a widow, Lady Temperance, and two sons,
Francis and Argall, the first of whom remarkably instanced individual
enterprise, effecting, in 1654, discoveries in North Carolina, and purchasing
from the natives at a cost of £300, "three great rivers and all such
others as they should like Southerly," which country he took possession
of in the name of the Commonwealth. Sir George Yeardley has representative
descendants of the name in the United States, but it is not known
to the writer that such exist in Virginia.
