ANNE BURRAS
Anne Burras was the first unmarried English woman in the New World known to have
survived. She was also the first English woman to marry in the New World and the
first to give birth to a known surviving child in the New World. She arrived in
Jamestown on September 30, 1608 on the Mary and Margaret, the ship bringing the
Second Supply as a 14 year old maid to Mistress Forest, whose first name is lost
to history. They were the first two English women in Jamestown. Mistress Forest
was ill from the crossing and did not live long in Virginia. Reportedly she died
within the month. Anne was married in November to John Leydon, a carpenter who
came on the Susan Constant in May 1607. Their marriage was the occasion of much
festivity in spite of the bleak conditions.
The following May, a large group including married women and children sent out
by the Virginia Company added to the precarious position of the food supply at
Jamestown as their large supply ship the Sea Venture which had been intended to
furnish food for all the settlers had been destroyed in the hurricane that
struck the fleet near Bermuda. The rest of the ships limped into Jamestown with
injured and demoralized passengers. Believing their officers, husbands and
friends on the Sea Venture dead only added to the colonists' sorrow and
confusion.
Since by then all friendly contact with the Indians had ceased and Anne had been
the only woman living in Jamestown, there would have been no one to help her
when her baby was born. She must have been very glad to have these women nearby.
Anne gave birth to a daughter, Virginia, in December 1609.
Anne Burras was the first unmarried English woman in the New World known to have
survived. She was also the first English woman to marry in the New World and the
first to give birth to a known surviving child in the New World. She arrived in
Jamestown on September 30, 1608 on the Mary and Margaret, the ship bringing the
Second Supply as a 14 year old maid to Mistress Forest, whose first name is lost
to history. They were the first two English women in Jamestown. Mistress Forest
was ill from the crossing and did not live long in Virginia. Reportedly she died
within the month. Anne was married in November to John Leydon, a carpenter who
came on the Susan Constant in May 1607. Their marriage was the occasion of much
festivity in spite of the bleak conditions.
The following May, a large group including married women and children sent out
by the Virginia Company added to the precarious position of the food supply at
Jamestown as their large supply ship the Sea Venture which had been intended to
furnish food for all the settlers had been destroyed in the hurricane that
struck the fleet near Bermuda. The rest of the ships limped into Jamestown with
injured and demoralized passengers. Believing their officers, husbands and
friends on the Sea Venture dead only added to the colonists' sorrow and
confusion.
Since by then all friendly contact with the Indians had ceased and Anne had been
the only woman living in Jamestown, there would have been no one to help her
when her baby was born. She must have been very glad to have these women nearby.
Anne gave birth to a daughter, Virginia, in December 1609.